REPORT/RECOMMENDATION TO THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS
OF THE COUNTY OF SAN BERNARDINO
AND RECORD OF ACTION
May 18, 2021
FROM
VERONICA KELLEY, Director, Department of Behavioral Health
SUBJECT
Title
Amendment to the Contract with Echo Consulting Services of California, Inc. for Management Information System Services
End
RECOMMENDATION(S)
Recommendation
Approve Amendment No. 1, effective July 1, 2021, to Contract No. 21-77 with Echo Consulting Services of California, Inc. for InSyst software licensing, maintenance, and support services, adding the 2021-22 fee schedule, exercising the first option to extend the contract one year, and increasing the total contract amount by $906,149, from $835,057 to $1,741,206, for the total contract period of July 1, 2020 through June 30, 2022.
(Presenter: Veronica Kelley, Director, 388-0801)
Body
COUNTY AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER GOALS & OBJECTIVES
Operate in a Fiscally-Responsible and Business-Like Manner.
Provide for the Safety, Health and Social Service Needs of County Residents.
FINANCIAL IMPACT
This item does not impact Discretionary General Funding (Net County Cost). The increase of $906,149 for management information system services is funded by a combination of Medi-Cal, Mental Health Services Act, and 1991 Realignment. Adequate appropriation and revenue will be included in the Department of Behavioral Health’s (DBH) 2021-22 recommended budget.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Echo Consulting Services of California, Inc. (ECHO) provides management information services and has helped manage DBH’s Information System utilized for billing and tracking of mental health services, provided through the State’s fee-for-service provider network, for over 20 years. The extension of this contract will ensure DBH’s continued compliance with state and federal requirements to receive the optimal level of cost reimbursement for services provided to eligible San Bernardino County residents. DBH is currently implementing a new Integrated Electronic Health Record and Billing System that will replace this contract. The ECHO InSyst system is required to run parallel through the new integrated system acceptance process in order to ensure a seamless transition. DBH recommends amending the contract with ECHO for continued software licensing, maintenance, and support through June 30, 2022.
DBH is responsible for providing mental health and substance use disorder services to San Bernardino County residents who are experiencing major mental illness or substance use disorders. An integral part of the service delivery system consists of tracking client services to remain in compliance with reporting requirements for participation in Medi-Cal services. For this reason, DBH utilizes the InSyst application to track mental health and substance use disorder services provided to DBH clients. The InSyst system is further utilized to bill insurance companies, Medicare, and the California Department of Health Care Services. In addition, the County participates in the InSyst user Group provided by ECHO with other membership counties.
ECHO provides additional technical support and data analysis to resolve issues that may periodically occur in the billing and claim process and to help address new state reporting requirements. The ECHO 2021-22 fee schedule includes an allocation for billable hours specifically for technical support, data analysis, and system operations support that are necessary due to the increase in services provided to clients and the increase in benefit plan options available through the various new state and federal initiatives. The contract with ECHO provides DBH dedicated connections to the Medi-Cal Eligibility Data System to verify client eligibility.
PROCUREMENT
On May 23, 2000 (Item No. 24), as the result of Statewide User Group negotiations, the Board of Supervisors (Board) approved Contract No. 00-309 with ECHO, in the amount of $360,000, for the period of October 1, 1999 through June 30, 2001 to provide management information system services. Since that time, the Board has approved 20 amendments increasing ECHO’s total contract amount by $7,296,508 to $7,656,508, and extending the contract through June 30, 2020.
On January 26, 2021 (Item No. 19), the Board approved Contract No. 21-77 with ECHO, in the amount of $835,057, for the period of July 1, 2020 through June 30, 2021 to continue to provide the necessary management information system services, with four one-year extension options contingent upon funding and contractor performance. Purchasing concurred with the non-competitive justification of this contract.
DBH will continue to monitor contractor performance on a regular basis to ensure performance and compliance standards and requirements are met.
REVIEW BY OTHERS
This item has been reviewed by Behavioral Health Contracts (Ellayna Hoatson, Contracts Supervisor, 388-0858) on April 14, 2021; County Counsel (Bonnie Uphold, Deputy County Counsel, 387-5455) on April 20, 2021; Information Services Department (Larry Ainsworth, Chief Information Officer, 388-0567) on April 20, 2021; Purchasing (Bruce Cole, Supervising Buyer, 387-2148) on April 21, 2021; Finance (Christopher Lange, Administrative Analyst, 386-8393) on April 28, 2021; and County Finance and Administration (Tanya Bratton, Deputy Executive Officer, 388-0332) on April 28, 2021.