TO: Board of Supervisors
FROM: Jennifer Yasumoto, Director Health and Human Services
REPORT BY: Summer Isham, Contracts Supervisor
SUBJECT: Agreement No. 230228B with Kings View Professional Services, Inc.
RECOMMENDATION
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Director of Health and Human Services Agency (HHSA) requests approval of and authorization for the Chair to sign Agreement No. 230228B with Kings View Professional Services, Inc., for a five year maximum of $2,548,860 for the term beginning upon approval through June 30, 2027, for the provision of ongoing consultative and technical support to assist with the configuration and implementation of HHSA’s specialized Electronic Health Record (EHR).
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Approval of today’s action will allow HHSA to obtain the operational and technical expertise of Kings View Professional Services to assist the Agency with a smooth transition from the retiring EHR to the new EHR, while maintaining compliance with state mandates and billing requirements for Behavioral Health Services.
FISCAL & STRATEGIC PLAN IMPACT
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Is there a Fiscal Impact? |
Yes |
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Is it currently budgeted? |
No |
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Where is it budgeted? |
Health and Human Services Agency, Mental Health Division |
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Is it Mandatory or Discretionary? |
Discretionary |
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Discretionary Justification: |
The requested action is discretionary in that there is no mandate to have this specific contract nor is it mandatory to contract with this contractor. Implementation of the new EHR, Credible, requires significant, specialized technical support involving the transfer of large amounts of data from the existing system to Credible. Ongoing technical support is also required in building out workflows to adapt our internal processes for case management, data entry, billing, data sharing, and reporting requirements. Implementation must occur by July 1, 2023, to comply with the upcoming changes stemming from CalAIM. |
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Is the general fund affected? |
No |
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Future fiscal impact: |
This Agreement terminates on June 30, 2027. Funding for this Agreement is included in the current approved Fiscal Year 2022-2023 budget, and future fiscal years will be budgeted accordingly. |
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Consequences if not approved: |
If this contract is not approved, Napa County HHSA will not be able to benefit from the technical expertise of Kings View. This would likely result in delays in implementation of the Credible system and increase risk exposure for Napa County related to emerging regulatory changes. |
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County Strategic Plan pillar addressed: |
Effective and Open Government |
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT
ENVIRONMENTAL DETERMINATION: The proposed action is not a project as defined by 14 California Code of Regulations 15378 (State CEQA Guidelines) and therefore CEQA is not applicable.
BACKGROUND AND DISCUSSION
HHSA is required by Federal and State Regulation to utilize a specialized EHR that is California-compliant to capture, bill, and maintain treatment records. For the past 14 years, HHSA has met this obligation with the Anasazi software system. The company that owns the Anasazi software, Cerner, is phasing out the system and will no longer provide updates or maintain the product.
In preparation for the phase out of the current EHR, multiple county stakeholders including Privacy/Compliance, Information Technology Services, and the HHSA Divisions of Mental Health, Alcohol & Drug Services, Fiscal, and Operations, were consulted to formulate a Request For Proposal (RFP) for a new EHR that will meet HHSA’s needs and fulfill requirements under two separate regulatory programs: (1) the 21st Century Cures Act, which requires the healthcare industry to adopt standardize application programming interfaces (APIs) in order to allow individuals to securely and easily access their health information, advance interoperability and support the access, exchange and use of electronic health information per Federal regulation; and (2) the California Advancing and Innovating Medi-Cal (CalAIM), which is a multi-year plan to transform the Medi-Cal delivery system by reducing complexity and increasing flexibility; addressing social determinants of health; improving quality outcomes and drive value based initiatives; and create modernization of systems and payment reform.
Through the RFP process Credible Behavioral Health, Inc., dba. Qualifacts System, LLC., was chosen and on September 27, 2022, this Board approved entering into a contract with Qualifacts, adopting Credible as the new EHR platform for the Behavioral Health Services, in HHSA, for a five year term. As part of the thorough RFP evaluation process, potential vendors were also evaluated on their implementation support and their ability to provide ongoing technical support for their product. Implementation of a new EHR requires significant, specialized technical support involving the transfer of large amounts of data from the existing system to Credible. Ongoing technical support is also required in building out workflows to adapt our internal processes for case management, data entry, billing, data sharing, and reporting requirements. Implementation must occur by July 1, 2023 to comply with the upcoming changes stemming from CalAIM, in particular, transformation of the existing and historic financial reimbursement for all California County Behavioral Health services. The Credible EHR product offered through Qualifacts has brought the additional advantage and was selected in part for it having an implementation and support partner in Kings View Professional Services (KVPS) that could assist HHSA with a rapid and complicated implementation.
KVPS provides implementation and ongoing technical support specific to the Credible EHR platform. They currently provide similar services to 15 counties and have been leaders in the Community Behavioral Health space for over 25 years. Contracting with KVPS provides HHSA access to technical and Behavioral Health specific expertise to configure the new system, and ensure billing, compliance, and administrative oversight of essential Behavioral Health community services are uninterrupted.