San Bernardino County this week entered into two separate no-bid contracts in a total amount exceeding $22.5 million for the provision of psychiatric and mental health care for mentally disturbed county residents including criminal defendants who have been institutionalized in lieu of standing trial.
In response to a report and recommendation from Georgina Yoshioka, the director of the county’s department of behavioral health, the board of supervisors on Tuesday December 16 unanimously approved entering into a $17,803,500 contract with Helping Hearts Kern, LLC for enhanced adult residential facility services.
According to Yoshioka’s report, which was presented to the board of supervisors by the behavioral health department’s assistant direction, Jennifer Alsina, the expenditure of the $17,803,500 will secure the services of Helping Hearts Kern, LLC for a period of not quite three months less than five years, running from December 16, 2025, through September 30, 2030.
Yoshioka and Alsina told the supervisors the will not come from the county’s operational budget but will be funded by revenue made available through the State of California’s Mental Health Services Act approved by California voters’ passage of Proposition 63 in 2004, which called for setting aside money for mental health programs through the imposition of an additional one percent tax on individual income in excess of one million dollars.
According to Yoshioka’s report, “The department of behavioral health is responsible for providing mental health and substance use disorder services to county residents experiencing severe mental illness and/or substance use disorder. Helping Hearts Kern, LLC is one of a select few state-licensed adult residential facility providers who provide specialty mental health services at the highest level of enhanced treatment. Clients are discharged from locked facilities such as state hospitals, detention centers, institutions for mental disease, Arrowhead Regional Medical Center Behavioral Health Unit, and other fee-for-service acute psychiatric hospitals. The clients served by Helping Hearts include decertified offenders with mental disorders, felony clients deemed incompetent to stand trial in community treatment, misdemeanor clients, Community assistance recovery and empowerment/assisted outpatient treatment clients, pretrial diversion clients, and clients on probation needing a higher level of care placement.”
The Arrowhead Regional Medical Center in Colton is the main campus of San Bernardino County’s county hospital. A decertified offender is a criminal defendant who has not been provided a certificate of rehabilitation. In California, a certificate of rehabilitation is issued by the Superior Court in the county where a defendant convicted or an individual criminally charged who has not stood trial or been convicted because of mental incompetency, following a petition and hearing where a judge determines the individual in question has shown rehabilitation.
“Due to the acuity of clients and the need for added supervision and services, the structure and support provided by an enhanced adult residential facility are a vital component of the continuum of care,” Yoshioka’s report continued. “Clients receiving enhanced adult residential facility services are provided individualized support to assist in maintaining stability in the community. These services provide increased supervision and support to clients whose behavior negatively impacts their stability in a lower level of care. Services include but are not limited to transportation to and from medical and psychiatric appointments, daily treatment groups, on-site educational classes, services for clients who are diabetic, and staff (nurses, clinical therapists, hearing impaired interpreters). Enhanced adult residential facility services allow clients to step down from a locked facility and better adapt to a residential setting with personalized treatment designed for successful community reintegration. The objective of enhanced adult residential facility services is to reduce recidivism to locked psychiatric facilities and/or detention centers and successfully transition clients to community living by providing continuous care for clients who are ready to transition to a lower level of care. The department of behavioral health anticipates that Helping Hearts will provide 10,950 bed days annually (5,475 annual bed-days or 15 beds available year-round each for centralized hospital aftercare services and for adult justice involved individuals) annually at an estimated cost of $325 per bed-day.”
According to Yoshioka, “The department of behavioral health will implement mechanisms to regularly review 1) client service data and progress, conduct site visits and annual monitoring to ensure performance and compliance standards of the contract(s) are met; 2) applicable claims data and claims for reimbursement to ensure fidelity and accuracy of service billing and optimization of Medi-Cal reimbursement in alignment with contract terms and [California] Department of Health Care Services billing requirements; and 3) provider invoices administratively and programmatically to ensure client and/or bed counts are accurate prior to payment processing.”
In a separate action, the board of supervisors at Yoshioka’s recommendation approved a $4,703,046 contract with Telecare Corporation, to provide corrections outpatient recovery enhancement services for the period of January 1, 2026 through December 31, 2028.
Yoshioka’s report with regard to the Telecare Corporation contractual arrangement was presented to the board of supervisors by another of the department’s assistant directors, Marina Espinosa.
As was the case regarding the contract with Helping Hearts Kern, LLC, the contract with the Telecare Corporation did not impact the county discretionary funding from its general operating budget, but will rather involve the $4,703,046 in Mental Health Services Act and Federal Financial Participation funding to the Telecare Corporation.
According to Yoshioka’s report, “In 2009, the Corrections Outpatient Recovery Enhancement program was implemented with the goal of reducing mental health crises, homelessness, and recidivism. The Corrections Outpatient Recovery Enhancement program administers integrated services as a full-service partnership program for parolees in the county. The Corrections Outpatient Recovery Enhancement program assists clients with behavioral health conditions, having criminal justice involvement, to successfully return to the community from the prison system, through intensive mental health and housing supports as well as housing specific to Penal Code 290 registrants.”
Penal Code 290 registrants are those who have been convicted of sexual offenses.
“The Corrections Outpatient Recovery Enhancement also provides intensive case management services, mental health treatment, transportation assistance, a drop-in center, housing subsidies to clients at risk of homelessness, a 24/7 crisis hotline, medication support services, wrap-around support, and linkage to food and clothing to its clients,” according to Yoshioka’s report. The Corrections Outpatient Recovery Enhancement program serves individuals who are infrequently admitted to other community-based services because of their status as sex offenders and/or violent offenders. In 2024-25, t the Corrections Outpatient Recovery Enhancement program served 50 parolees who benefited from the Corrections Outpatient Recovery Enhancement integrated treatment approach. Parolees are referred by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, and community programs such as crisis stabilization units and crisis residential treatment programs.”
According to Yoshioka and Espinosa, “Approval of this item will allow Corrections Outpatient Recovery Enhancement to serve an estimated 60 clients annually at an average cost of $26,128 per client.”