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Health and Human Services Agency (HHSA) recommending the Board:
1) Authorize the HHSA Director, the HHSA Chief Assistant (CA) Director, or the HHSA Behavioral Health (BH) Director to accept the Data Exchange Framework (DxF) Qualified Health Information Organization (QHIO) Onboarding Grant program Round 3, if awarded, administered by California Health and Human Services Agency (CalHHS), in the estimated amount of $50,000, for the performance period of two years; and
2) Delegate authority to the HHSA Director, HHSA CA Director, or the HHSA BH Director, to execute the resulting Grant Agreement and future amendments that do not increase Net County Cost, contingent upon County Counsel and Risk Management approval, and subsequent administrative documents, including fiscal or programmatic reports, required to administer the funding.
FUNDING: 100% State funding administered by CalHHS per Health and Safety Code (HSC) Section 130290; no matching funds are required.
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DISCUSSION / BACKGROUND:
In July of 2022, the California Governor and Legislature established several phases for implementing the California DxF, the first-ever, statewide data sharing agreement that will accelerate and expand the exchange of health and social services information among health and social service organizations, to be administered by CalHHS. Phase one of the DxF started with CalHHS developing a non-financial single Data Sharing Agreement (DSA) and a common set of Policies and Procedures that govern the exchange of information among health care entities and government agencies in California.
Under HSC Section 130290, California health care entities were required to execute the DSA by January 2023. Subsequently, CalHHS invited other health care and social services providers, such as counties, community-based organizations, emergency medical services, and mental health providers, to voluntarily execute a DSA. On March 22, 2023, the HHSA BH Director elected to voluntarily execute the DSA, which was approved by the Board of Supervisors (Board) on March 21, 2023 (Legistar 23-0455).
In May 2023, CalHHS Center for Data Insights and Innovation (CDII) launched the DxF Grant Program, consisting of two types of grants programs: (1) The DxF Educational Initiative Grant Program; and (2) The DSA Signatory Grant Program, available in three rounds. CDII allocated up to $47 million for DSA Signatory Grants to fund activities for individual Signatories to meet their DSA requirements. Additionally, the DSA Signatory Grant Program was broken out into the Technical Assistant Grant and the QHIO Onboarding Grant, both designed to provide direct support to DSA Signatories to subsidize their data exchange implementation efforts. On December 8, 2023, HHSA BH Division, as a Signatory on the DSA, applied for the QHIO Onboarding Grant Round 3, in accordance with Board Policy A-6: Grant Applications.
If awarded, HHSA will receive the DxF QHIO Onboarding Grant in the estimated amount of $50,000, with a performance period of two years. The funding will be budgeted to configure HHSA’s electronic health record system for connection to the QHIO, including vendor fees, implementation costs and testing, costs to onboard both systems to the QHIO, including interface development, system configuration and testing, and costs of internal support implementation.
HHSA recommends the Board approve this agenda item to enable HHSA to participate in the DxF QHIO Onboarding Grant Program and benefit from the grant funds to implement technology improvements.
ALTERNATIVES:
Should the Board decline to approve this recommendation, the County will be ineligible to participate in the DxF QHIO Onboarding Grant Program and will not receive the grant award in the estimated amount of $50,000. Consequently, HHSA will need to determine another funding source for the technology improvements needed to implement the DSA requirements.
PRIOR BOARD ACTION:
03/21/23, 23-0455, HHSA Agreement 7490 CalHHS Data Sharing
OTHER DEPARTMENT / AGENCY INVOLVEMENT:
N/A
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 funding 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