Title
Health and Human Services Agency (HHSA) recommending the Board:
1) Approve and authorize the Chair to sign Amendment 5 to Agreement for Services 844 (447-S1711) with Netsmart Technologies, Inc., for the provision of the Netsmart Avatar electronic health record and billing system services, which retroactively adds the MyLearningPointe subscription to the agreement and removes the Telehealth™ subscription from the agreement; increasing the total amount of the Agreement by $3,250 for a new total not-to-exceed amount of $929,450; with no change to the term of the Agreement; and
2) Authorize the HHSA Director, or designee, to execute further documents relating to Agreement for Services 844 (447-S1711), contingent upon County Counsel and Risk Management approval, including amendments which do not increase the maximum dollar amount or term of the Agreement.
FUNDING: Federal and State Funding: 50% Medi-Cal, 24% Mental Health Realignment, and 26% Mental Health Services Act.
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DISCUSSION / BACKGROUND:
In 2005, the Board approved a Mental Health Agreement to contract with the California Regional Mental Health Systems Coalition Joint Powers Authority (JPA) to develop an integrated information systems infrastructure. The JPA members researched available software systems suitable for Mental Health records and billing that satisfied the requirements of the California Medi-Cal system. As a result, the JPA selected and implemented the Avatar system, a product of the Netsmart Technologies Corporation, to achieve this goal and meet State requirements. Despite the quality and success of the product, the Application Service Provider (ASP) billing configuration proved to be problematic and the JPA system was dissolved by June 30, 2013. The Health and Human Services Agency (HHSA) desired to continue using Avatar due to the financial and staff time investment in developing and using the software, the multitude of records contained in the software platform, and to ensure ...
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