To: Board of Supervisors
From: Dr. Ori Tzvieli, Interim Health Services Director
Report Title: Contract #74-627-7 with Ever Well Health Systems, LLC.
☒Recommendation of the County Administrator ☐ Recommendation of Board Committee
RECOMMENDATIONS:
APPROVE and AUTHORIZE the Interim Health Services Director, or designee, to execute on behalf of the County Contract #74-627-7 with Ever Well Health Systems, LLC, a limited liability company, in an amount not to exceed $1,506,633 to provide residential and mental health services to adults diagnosed with Serious Mental Illness (SMI) and Serious Persistent Mental Illness (SPMI) for the period July 1, 2025 through June 30, 2026.
FISCAL IMPACT:
Approval of this Contract will result in annual budgeted expenditures of up to $1,506,633 and will be funded 100% by Behavioral Health Services Act revenues.
BACKGROUND:
The County has been contracting with Ever Well Health Systems, LLC since December 2020 to provide residential and mental health services to adults diagnosed with SMI and SPMI. This Contract meets the social needs of County’s population by providing residential facilities for adults who require support and are being discharged from state hospitals or psychiatric health facilities and require step-down care to transition to community living.
This Contract is entered into under and subject to the following legal authorities: California Government Code §§ 26227 and 31000. This Contract was approved by Health Services Personnel to ensure there is no conflict with labor relations. The Behavioral Health’s Quality Management, Utilization Management and Contract Monitor Staff meet on a regular basis to ensure monitoring and performance measures in the Contract are upheld.
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.
On August 13, 2024, the Board of Supervisors approved Contract #74-627-5 with Ever Well Health Systems, LLC, in the amount of $1,434,888, for the provision of residential and mental health services to adults diagnosed with SMI and SPMI being stepped down from Institutes for Mental Diseases (IMD) levels of care and to transition back into the community, for the period July 1, 2024 through June 30, 2025.
Approval of Contract #74-627-7 will allow the Contractor to continue providing SMI and SPMI mental health services through June 30, 2026.
CONSEQUENCE OF NEGATIVE ACTION:
If this Contract is not approved, County clients in need of SMI and SPMI care will not have access to Contractor’s services possibly resulting in higher levels of placement, including hospitalization.