To: Board of Supervisors
From: Anna Roth, Health Services Director
Report Title: Novation Contract #24-712-10 with Telecare Corporation
☒Recommendation of the County Administrator ☐ Recommendation of Board Committee
RECOMMENDATIONS:
APPROVE and AUTHORIZE the Health Services Director, or designee, to execute on behalf of the County Novation Contract #24-712-10 with Telecare Corporation, a corporation, in an amount not to exceed $2,755,810 to provide Medi-Cal specialty mental health services at Hope House, a sixteen (16) bed short-term crisis residential facility (CRF), for adults with mental illness, for the period July 1, 2023 through June 30, 2024.
FISCAL IMPACT:
Approval of this contract will result in budgeted expenditures of up to $2,755,810 and will be funded 100% by Federal Medi-Cal. (Rate increase)
BACKGROUND:
This contract meets the social needs of county’s population by providing Medi-Cal for specialty mental health services, for adults, age eighteen (18) and older, who require support to avoid hospitalization or are being discharged from the hospital or long-term locked facilities and require step-down care to transition to community living. The Behavioral Health Services Department has been contracting with Telecare Corporation since December 2013.
On November 8, 2022, the Board of Supervisors approved Novation Contract #24-712-9 with Telecare Corporation, in an amount not to exceed $2,338,279, for the provision of CRF services at Hope House, a short-term crisis residential facility for the period from July 1, 2022 through June 30, 2023, which included a six-month automatic extension through December 31, 2023, in an amount not to exceed $1,169,139.
This provider was selected in collaboration with community stakeholder advisory bodies and was approved as part of the comprehensive Mental Health Services Act Three-Year Plan as required by State regulation. Providers interested in providing specialized services were invited proactively to participate in program development and offered the opportunity to submit interest at dozens of publicly noticed meetings. The services and vendors were identified in the formal Three-Year plan was approved on the following schedule that was noticed to the public and approved by the Board on August 1, 2023. The Three-Year Plan was posted for public comment from June 5, 2023 through July 5, 2023, there was a Public Hearing at the Mental Health Commission meeting on July 5, 2023, and it was approved by the Board of Supervisors on August 1, 2023.
Approval of Novation Contract #24-712-10 replaces the automatic extension under the prior contract and allows contractor to continue providing Medi-Cal specialty mental health services through June 30, 2024.
CONSEQUENCE OF NEGATIVE ACTION:
If this contract is not approved, services provided to Mental Health Plan Medi-Cal beneficiaries could be negatively impacted, including access to services, choice of providers, cultural competency, language capacity, geographical locations of service providers, and waiting lists.