After extensive community outreach, Santa Barbara County has put the brakes on an early October proposal to transfer 7,500 patients from county care to the private sector in an effort to protect ongoing care of 23,000 additional patients.

Supervisors also directed staff to create a Health Access Task Force.

“Our patient care is not going to change. We still are going to serve everybody. Everybody will receive the care that we continue to provide such as primary care, family planning, gynecology, immunizations, and everything as well as well-child exams.

"However we are still considering evaluation of the services that we are not mandated to provide,” Director of Public Health Mouhanad Hammami told the Board of Supervisors Tuesday.

Those specialty services, such as endocrinology, gastro

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