To: Board of Supervisors
From: Anna Roth, Health Services Director
Report Title: Amendment Agreement #23-457-22 with Health Care Interpreter Network
☒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 Contract Amendment Agreement #23-457-22 with Health Care Interpreter Network, a non-profit corporation, effective November 1, 2024, to amend Contract #23-457-19 (as amended by #23-457-21), to increase the payment limit by $900,000, from $3,377,500 to a new payment limit of $4,277,500, to provide additional healthcare interpretation services for the County on the Healthcare Interpreter Network (HCIN) System with no change in the original term through June 30, 2025.
FISCAL IMPACT:
Approval of this Amendment will result in additional contractual service expenditures of up to $900,000 and will be funded as budgeted 100% by Hospital Enterprise Fund I revenues. (No rate increase)
BACKGROUND:
Individuals with limited English proficiency are at risk of receiving lower quality health treatment because of language barriers. When an interpreter is not readily available patients may rely on family members, even children, to interpret health treatment instructions. California law has required hospitals to provide language assistance since 1990. The Healthcare Interpreter Network’s system allows physicians at Contra Costa Regional Medical Center, Contra Costa Health Centers, CCHP Network providers and partner health systems nationwide to use a software program to route calls to a video conferencing device mounted in exam rooms, allowing qualified in-house medical interpreters and interpreters at other hospitals or remote locations to be connection within seconds to a patient. The average interpreter request response time is eleven seconds.
This Contract is entered into under and subject to the following legal authority: California Government Code § 31000. Health Services Personnel approved this contract to ensure no conflicts with labor relations. This Contractor has been a part of Contra Costa Health Services providing interpretation services and fostering a deep understanding of the County’s organizations mission, values, and long-term objectives since April 2009.
On June 27, 2023, the Board of Supervisors approved Contract #23-457-19 with Health Care Interpreter Network, in an amount not to exceed $1,577,500 for the provision of qualified foreign language and sign language interpretation services via video conferencing, for the period July 1, 2023 through June 30, 2025.
On May 21, 2024, the Board of Supervisors approved Amendment Agreement #23-457-21 with Health Care Interpreter Network, effective May 15, 2024, to increase the payment limit by $1,800,000 to a new payment limit of $3,337,500 for additional healthcare interpretation services with no change in the term.
Approval of Contract Amendment Agreement #23-457-22 will allow the Contractor to provide additional healthcare interpretation services through June 30, 2025. This Contract delay was due to Department’s oversight on tracking current funds as this Contractor’s services are used by multiple divisions making it hard to accurately track.
CONSEQUENCE OF NEGATIVE ACTION:
If this Amendment is not approved, the Contractor will not be able to provide additional healthcare interpretation services required by State and Federal mandates.