County Lays Out Another $125M For Comprehensive Psych Services

Two weeks after the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors committed to spending $105.5 million for so-called comprehensive treatment services for children under five years of age, on Tuesday it earmarked another $124.3 million for similar psychological care for school age children throughout the county.
According to Veronica Kelley, the director of the San Bernardino County Department of Behavioral Health, “Comprehensive treatment services is comprised of the Student Assistance Program, the School-Aged Treatment Services and Children’s Intensive Services programs. The Student Assistance Program is a school-based approach to providing focused services to students in need of interventions for substance use disorders, mental health, academic, emotional, and/or social issues. School-Aged Treatment Services and Children’s Intensive Services provide services to Medi-Cal beneficiaries who are at risk for school failure due to substance use disorder, juvenile justice involvement, mental health, emotional and social issues. The Department of Behavioral Health anticipates that the recommended agencies will provide comprehensive treatment services annually to approximately 9,172 Student Assistance Program participants at an estimated cost of $419 per participant, approximately 2,667 School-Aged Treatment Services participants at an estimated cost of $3,000 per participant, and approximately 666 Children’s Intensive Services participants at an estimated cost of $7,000 per participant.”
Kelley continued, “The Department of Behavioral Health is responsible for providing mental health and substance use disorder services to San Bernardino County residents who are experiencing major mental illness, substance use disorders, and other addictions. An integral part of the service delivery system consists of county-operated and -contracted service providers delivering a variety of mental health treatment services. The Student Assistance Program, the School-Aged Treatment Services and Children’s Intensive Services are three distinctive programs that collectively represent a large portion of the children’s continuum of mental health services and each program is expected to collaborate cohesively with the others. The Student Assistance Program serves children/youth (grades K-12) and their families, who have been exposed to trauma, are experiencing the first onset of serious psychiatric illness, are in stressed families, are at risk for school failure and/or at risk of, or are experiencing juvenile justice involvement. The School-Aged Treatment Services program serves school-age Medi-Cal eligible children/youth (up to the age of 21) that experience significant distress and resulting dysfunction due to a mental health condition and thus meet Medi-Cal medical necessity criteria. Children’s Intensive Services serves Medi-Cal eligible children/youth beneficiaries (up to the age of 21) that experience significant distress and resulting dysfunction due to a mental health condition and thus meet Medi-Cal medical necessity criteria.”
In accordance with Kelley’s recommendation, the board of supervisors at its Tuesday June 26 meeting approved a contract for comprehensive treatment services for the period of July 1, 2018 to June 30, 2023 with Apple Valley-based Desert/Mountain Children’s Center, in the amount of $68,209,730; Big Bear-based Lutheran Social Services of Southern California, in the amount of $1,787,235; Crestline-based Mountain Counseling & Training, in the amount of $3,700,000; Mission Viejo-based South Coast Community Services, in the amount of $28,595,745; Chico-based Victor Community Support Services, Inc., in the amount of $16,497,040; and Ontario-based West End Family Counseling Services, in the amount of $5,586,865.
According to Kelley, those six entities rose to the top in the course of a competitive bid process. The procurement effort consisted of the county administrative office approving and authorizing on January 30, 2018 a request for proposals to solicit agencies for the provision of comprehensive treatment services, for the period of July 1, 2018 through June 30, 2023. The solicitation was made through direct mailings to more than 400 community based organizations and publicly advertised in local newspapers, and given further exposure through the county’s electronic procurement system. A total of 28 agencies attended the mandatory proposal conference and technical assistance meeting held on February 6, 2018. The Department of Behavioral Health received 16 proposals in response to the request for proposals that met the minimum qualifications and were reviewed during the evaluation process.
Those applicants which fell by the wayside were A New Beginning FFA from Hesperia, Christian Counseling Services of Redlands, Florence Crittenton of Orange County, Inc. from Fullerton; Family Service Agency of San Bernardino, Family Service Association of Riverside, McKinley Children’s Center of San Dimas, Mental Health Systems of San Diego, Reach Out of Upland, The San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools of San Bernardino and Valley Star Behavioral Health, Inc. of San Bernardino.
On June 12, the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors committed to spending over $155,996,067 million toward the provision of mental health-related services throughout the county over the next five years, the lion’s share of which went to comprehensive treatment services for preschoolers. With its June 12 vote, the board of supervisors approved committing to contracts in the amount of $104,499,930 for the provision of specialized care for children ranging from newborns to five-years-old as part of its “Age 0-5 Comprehensive Treatment Services” program over the five year period from July 1, 2018 to June 30, 2023, including paying Christian Counseling Services $10,735,975; Desert/Mountain Children’s Center $46,450,200; Hearts & Lives $2,493,050; Lutheran Social Services of Southern California $4,155,080; Victor Community Support Services, Inc. $24,995,720; and West End Family Counseling Services $15,669,905.
-Mark Gutglueck

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