LAKE COUNTY — Mental health services for children will continue after the Lake County Board of Supervisors changed contracts with three providers Tuesday to allow for a new Medi-Cal billing requirement.
The change means the county mental health department has to ask the board for a $125,000 loan to pay providers and meet the new requirement. The department used to make a claim to Medi-Cal for provided upfront and then pay a provider. The department is now required to pay a provider before it can submit a claim.
Lake County Mental Health Director Christy Kelly told the board that Medi-Cal was seven months behind paying claims to the county because a federal audit found it was not in compliance with federal regulations.
“I think this is part of that one-time cleanup. How many more of these things they might find, I don”t know,” Kelly said.
After learning of the new state requirement in a March 28 letter from the California Department of Mental Health, Kelly sent out 30-day cancellation notices to three contractors ? Redwood Children”s Services, the Lake County Office of Education and Lake Family Resource Center. She asked the board Tuesday to stop the cancellations.
Camille Schraeder, founder and director of the foster agency Redwood Children”s services, told the board that the agency”s specialty mental health program serves 65 to 70 children per month, and spent approximately $833 per month for each client.
“If you compare these costs to the out-of-county costs of specialty mental health services, day treatment services, non-public school, and of course, prolonged out-of-home care, it is clear that the fiscal investment is quite reasonable and is actually on the lower end of the treatment cost spectrum for children and youth who have been abused or neglected,” Schraeder said.
Kelly said the contract amendments included an understanding that the county would make a good faith effort to pay as quickly as possible, with the understanding that funds are not always readily available.
The board approved a $125,000 loan to the mental health department from county general funds to get the new billing procedure started. The loan brought the department”s debt to the general fund up to more than $1.7 million, according to county Chief Administrative Officer Kelly Cox.
“Based on what they”re proposing to pay back the general fund this next fiscal year, I would project that if everything else stays the same, they should be able to pay the general fund back for the other amount they owe us and this by Jan. 30, 2010,” Cox said.
“It might be risky, but I don”t see it as a risk. I see it as an obligation we have. Ultimately, our job up here is to take care those who cannot take care of themselves. There”s no segment of society that better meets that requirement than these kids we”re talking about,” Supervisor Rob Brown said.
Contact Tiffany Revelle at trevelle@record-bee.com.
