Title
Mental Health Department recommending continuance of a current perpetual agreement with the California Regional Mental Health Systems Coalition Joint Powers Authority (JPA) in the amount of $169,940 for Fiscal Year 2007-2008 for continued electronic billing and clinical management software systems for said Department; and further recommending the Purchasing Agent be authorized to encumber funding for same.
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Approve.
Body
BUDGET SUMMARY: |
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|
Total Estimated Cost |
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$169,940 |
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Funding |
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Budgeted |
$169,940 |
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New Funding |
$ |
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Savings |
$ |
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Other |
$ |
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Total Funding Available |
$169,940 |
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Change To Net County Cost |
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$0 |
Fiscal Impact/Change to Net County Cost:The total funding for this agreement is $169,940 for FY 07-08. There is no Change to Net County Cost.
Background: The Mental Health Department is currently converting its electronic billing and clinical records information systems from two disparate applications (i.e., Insyst and InterTrac, two applications that do not "communicate" with one another) to a new Netsmart product (i.e., Avatar) designed to combine and integrate these two functions. By converting to the Avatar application, the Department will have more control over its billing and clinical record keeping and be able to build and generate reports necessary for improving clinical care and conducting business. A transition out of the Insyst product became necessary in any case, as this antiquated 1980's application is no longer supported. All Insyst counties are transitioning to new software that, like Avatar, integrates the billing functions of Insyst with an electronic medical records system.
The Department's contract with the nine-county (i.e., Glenn, Colusa, El Dorado, Amador, Calaveras, Mono, Inyo, Shasta and Modoc counties) Joint Powers Authority (JPA) permits payment for the ongoing implementation and testing of Avatar. Participation in the JPA provides the Department significant economies of scale as compared with the alternative of selecting, implementing and operating a new system as a single small county. The total dollar amount per county is calculated by a formula that combines two primary factors: 1) costs associated with implementation are divided equally among the JPA counties regardless of size and 2) annual user fees paid to Netsmart are divided based on county size; i.e. the number of system users per county. Avatar costs will be partially offset by no longer paying for Insyst and InterTrac.
El Dorado County was the first of these counties to "go live" with Avatar's billing component in January 2007. The Department ran Avatar in parallel with Insyst for three consecutive months to assure ourselves of the consistency between the two applications. Further, Mental Health has now (August 2007) submitted and passed the State Department of Mental Health's (DMH) prerequisite "MediCal billing tests" necessary for the DMH to allow us to use Avatar to submit claims electronically. As of this writing (8/16/2007), Mental Health awaits DMH's final approval to begin submitting our MediCal claims via Avatar. Finally, the Mental Health Department plans to begin implementing the electronic medical record component of Avatar in January 2008.
Reason for Recommendation:Continued participation in the JPA will allow the Mental Health Department to continue in its use of the Avatar software system and to pay the vendor for software licenses, as well as to reimburse the JPA for other associated expenses.
The Purchasing Agent concurs with the department's request noting that this contract was initiated prior to the adoption of the revised procurement policy in March of 2007 and is therefore not subject to the requirements set forth therein.
Action to be taken following Board approval:Purchasing Agent will encumber funds for this agreement and Mental Health will make payment upon receipt and approval of invoices. Any future changes to terms and conditions of this agreement will be brought to the Board for approval.
Contact:John Bachman, Mental Health
Concurrences:This agreement has previously been approved by County Counsel and Risk Management and a copy is on file in the Board Clerk's Office.