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Health and Human Services Agency (HHSA) recommending the Board:
1) Accept the grant award to HHSA from the California Department of Health Care Services in the amount of $896,407 for the Providing Access and Transforming Health Justice-Involved Capacity Building Program (PATH-JI) Round 3, for the retroactive term starting September 25, 2023, through April 1, 2026;
2) Ratify the HHSA Behavioral Health Director’s acknowledgement of the PATH-JI Terms and Conditions on September 25, 2023, now known as Funding In Agreement 8241; and
3) Authorize the HHSA Director, or HHSA Chief Assistant Director, to execute amendments relating to Funding-In Agreement 8241 which do not increase Net County Cost, contingent upon approval by County Counsel and Risk Management, and to execute programmatic, administrative, and fiscal documents.
FUNDING: 100% State of California Department of Health Care Services funding; no match requirement.
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DISCUSSION / BACKGROUND:
California Advancing and Innovating Medi-Cal (CalAIM) is a multi-year initiative, administered by the DHCS to improve the quality of life and health outcomes of individuals on Medi-Cal by implementing a broad delivery system, as well as program and payment reform across the Medi-Cal program. The CalAIM initiative utilizes the Medi-Cal program to help address the multifaceted challenges facing California's most vulnerable residents which includes the growing number of justice-involved populations who have significant clinical needs.
On January 26, 2023, DHCS received federal approval under its CalAIM 1115 Demonstration for Providing Access and Transferring Health capacity building funds to support the Justice-Involved (PATH-JI) Reentry Initiative. Under the CalAIM 1115 Demonstration, DHCS received approval to award up to $410 million in capacity building funds to support the planning and implementation of statewide justice-involved initiatives, including pre-release Medi-Cal services processes and the delivery of Medi-Cal services to individuals in state prisons, county jails, and youth correctional facilities who meet the eligibility criteria as outlined in the CalAIM Section 1115 Demonstration approval, in the 90 days prior to an individual’s release into the community.
The PATH-JI Capacity Building Program funding will support HHSA Behavioral Health Department (BHD) implementation of Behavioral Health Links as required by Assembly Bill (AB) 133. PATH funds will be available to support investments in personnel, capacity, and/or Information Technology (IT) systems that are needed for collaborative planning and implementation in order to administer pre-release service processes for incarcerated individuals.
Round 1: The Probation Department and Sheriff’s Office received Board acceptance of PATH-JI Round 1 in the amount of $125,000 on December 13, 2022 (Legistar 22-2061), to support collaborative planning with county departments of social services and other enrollment implementation partners to identify processes, protocols, and IT modifications that are necessary to support implementation of pre-release enrollment and suspension processes.
Round 2: The Sheriff’s Office, HHSA, and Probation applied and were awarded allocations for PATH Round 2 in September 2023, in the amount of $1,700,000 to develop a detailed Implementation Plan. The Board adopted Resolution 172-2023 accepting PATH-JI Round 2 in the amount of $1,000,000 for the Sheriff’s Office, $250,000 for Probation, and $450,000 for HHSA BHD (Legistar 23-2036).
Round 3: On May 1, 2023, DHCS released the application for the PATH-JI Round 3 funding to eligible agencies. Entities eligible to apply for funding were county Sheriff’s Offices to support county jails, County Probation Offices to support youth correctional facilities, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) to support state prisons, and County Behavioral Health Agencies to implement behavioral health linkages. As an eligible agency, HHSA Behavioral Health Division (BHD) applied for this funding on July 29, 2023.
Subsequently, on August 29, 2023, HHSA BHD was awarded $896,407 by the DHCS for the Path-JI Round 3 program, and in order to receive the funding was required to acknowledge the Terms and Conditions within 30 days of the award notice. Consequently, on September 25, 2023, following approval by County Counsel and Risk Management, the HHSA BHD Director acknowledged the online Terms and Conditions. Following that action, HHSA designated the Terms and Conditions as Funding-In Agreement 8241 and brought this item before the Board at the earliest opportunity to request the Board ratify the HHSA BHD Director’s acknowledgement of said Terms and Conditions.
Per the PATH-JI Round 3 requirements for funding, HHSA BHD will submit an Implementation Plan to DHCS within 180 days of receipt of funds describing how the division intends to use the funding to support the planning for, and implementation of, Medi-Cal Reentry Services and/or Behavioral Health Links in order to demonstrate operational readiness as required by DHCS.
ALTERNATIVES:
Should the Board decline to approve this recommendation, HHSA BHD would need to withdraw its acknowledgement of the PATH-JI Round 3 Terms and Conditions provided to DHCS, thereby declining the grant award of $896,407, and would need to cease any activities currently underway for compliance with the funding.
PRIOR BOARD ACTION:
1) 12/13/22, 22-2061, Probation/EDSO accept PATH 1
2) 11/14/23, 23-2036, Sheriff, HHSA, Probation PATH Funding
OTHER DEPARTMENT / AGENCY INVOLVEMENT:
Approved by County Counsel and Risk Management.
CAO RECOMMENDATION:
Approve as recommended.
FINANCIAL IMPACT:
There is no Net County Cost associated with this Agenda item. Sufficient appropriations were included in the Fiscal Year 2023-24 Budget and will be included in future budgets for the term of the Agreement.
CLERK OF THE BOARD FOLLOW UP ACTIONS
N/A
STRATEGIC PLAN COMPONENT:
Healthy Communities
CONTACT
Olivia Byron-Cooper, MPH, Director, Health and Human Services Agency