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Our Mission
“Magnify the influence and contribution of
nonprofit business in Santa Clara County.”
| News - February 2007 News to Members - January 2007 News to Members - December 2006 News to Members - November 2006 News to Members - October 2006 News to Members - Discussion with PCF and CFSV on the new Foundation - July News to Members - June 2006 News to Members - May News to Members Events Current SVCN Position Statements - SVCN Position Regarding the County Budget - SVCN Position on the RFP Process - Request for Nonprofit Access to the Mental Health Department - SVCN Statement on the City of San Jose Community Center ReUse Strategy |
Request for Nonprofit Access to
the Mental Health Department May 1, 2006 Nancy Pena, Ph.D. Director, Santa Clara County Mental Health Department 828 South Bascom Ave., Suite 200 San Jose, CA 95128 Dear Nancy, For over a year, the Santa Clara County Mental Health Department has led an inclusive and “out-reaching” process as it has launched the transformation of mental health service delivery called for in the Mental Health Services Act (MHSA). SVCN has participated in this process as a member of the Leadership Stakeholder Committee. As 2006 brings the initial steps of the system transformation, SVCN wants to ensure full access to opportunities to participate for all qualified providers, including emerging providers of services to underserved ethnic minorities and other specialized target groups. SVCN is writing to inquire about the process nonprofit organizations need to follow to become certified Short-Doyle MediCal providers. The ability to leverage MediCal has been, and continues to be, a critical strategy for the Mental Health Department to maximize resources to ensure needed services are provided to the most needy and vulnerable people with mental illnesses. In our meetings with a wide variety of agencies, SVCN has determined that there are at least 8-10 mid-sized organizations (budgets of $2-5 million) interested in becoming MediCal providers and ready to pursue a formal process. Leaders of these organizations attended the Mental Health Department orientation and have assessed their own readiness. They either are ready for more information or believe they are ready to begin the certification process. We know a couple of agencies have already written to you in this regard. SVCN sees this access issue coming to the Department in a number of ways over the next year: a. Agencies with non-Federal government funding potentially eligible to match MediCal. (These agencies’ interest in MediCal certification is separate from any future opportunities that may result for them from MHSA.) b. Agencies qualified to deliver services under MHSA who apply but are not MediCal certified at the time of application (more specifically, those who continue to have questions after attending the orientation session.) c. Agencies who have special expertise in serving underserved ethnic or other target populations and who may be providers of choice if infrastructure challenges they face were addressed. Full, open access to opportunities to work with the Mental Health Department are essential if system transformation is to occur. Creative solutions, such as “incubator” status and/or collaborations with certified lead agencies, should be explored. SVCN believes a formal process and plan need to be developed. We request that the Department appoint a lead staff person to work through the key issues with nonprofit organizations who are potential new service delivery partners. Some of the key issues that have been raised so far are: a. How to evaluate funding as a potential MediCal match. b. What is the formal procedure for pursuing certification? c. What are the certification requirements and how do providers obtain that information? d. Helping providers evaluate whether their service models meet medical necessity criteria and if service redesign to achieve that is viable. e. Site certification. f. Organizational cultures and medical model service approaches. g. Infrastructure requirements of MediCal providers: information technology, billing, compliance etc. SVCN can be a helpful resource to both the Department and the nonprofits so that everyone makes best use of limited time and resources. Again, this is about Short-Doyle MediCal certification, not MHSA funding, so we hope that you or your representative will be available to meet with us soon to discuss this issue. I look forward to hearing from you. Sincerely, Patricia Gardner Executive Director cc: Bruce Copely, Deputy Director, Mental Health Department Michael Ichinaga, M.D., Mental Health Department Quality Assurance Miguel Valencia, President, Association of Mental Health Contract Agencies |
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