REPORT/RECOMMENDATION TO THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS
OF SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY
AND RECORD OF ACTION
March 1, 2022
FROM
GEORGINA YOSHIOKA, Interim Director, Department of Behavioral Health
SUBJECT
Title
Non-Financial Memorandum of Understanding with Holmusk Technologies, Inc. for mConnect Major Depressive Disorder Digital Solution Study
End
RECOMMENDATION(S)
Recommendation
Approve the non-financial Memorandum of Understanding with Holmusk Technologies, Inc. to establish the terms and conditions under which the mConnect Major Depressive Disorder Digital Solution Study will be conducted, for the period of March 1, 2022 through February 28, 2025.
(Presenter: Georgina Yoshioka, Interim Director, 388-0801)
Body
COUNTY AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER GOALS & OBJECTIVES
Provide for the Safety, Health and Social Service Needs of County Residents.
Pursue County Goals and Objectives by Working with Other Agencies and Stakeholders.
FINANCIAL IMPACT
This item does not impact Discretionary General Funding (Net County Cost). The non-financial Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) has no financial obligation between San Bernardino County Department of Behavioral Health (DBH) and Holmusk Technologies, Inc. (Holmusk).
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
DBH is responsible for providing mental health and substance use disorder services to San Bernardino County residents experiencing major mental illness and/or substance use disorders. During a recent tour of DBH programs, the Director of the California Health & Human Services Agency recommended DBH’s participation in Johnson & Johnson’s mobile application study to help treat patients with a Major Depressive Disorder (MDD), a serious mood disorder that interferes with daily life.
Holmusk, a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson, has developed mConnect, a patient mobile application and clinician dashboard solution, which will be utilized at no cost by DBH during the three-year mConnect MDD Digital Solution Study project period. This study is a pilot project designed to encourage patient participation in their own care and improve the quality and personalization of care delivery and treatment outcomes for patients experiencing MDD by enabling measurement-based care. The recommended non-financial MOU establishes the terms and conditions of DBH’s collaboration with Holmusk for participation in the mConnect MDD Digital Solution Study project.
The study will test Holmusk’s mConnect mobile application intended to assist doctors and patients in tracking symptoms of depression over the course of treatment. The initial phase will include implementation of the mobile application in one of DBH outpatient clinics for an estimated 25-50 patients diagnosed with MDD that will include feedback and data collection on the ease of use, constant accessibility, and usefulness for both patients and doctors, respectively. Upon successful outcomes of the initial phase, the mConnect mobile application will then be rolled out for use in all DBH’s outpatient clinics.
The goal of utilizing the mConnect mobile application is to provide a client-centric solution to encourage client participation, improve the quality, personalization of care and treatment outcomes of clients with MDD. The mConnect application will integrate data from DBH's Electronic Health Record and client reported data. It is anticipated that implementation of this mobile application will provide a more efficient and effective quality reporting from patients by allowing real time reporting on a day-by-day basis. The expectation is that clients will engage with the mConnect application and thereby provide information at different points in time since their last in-person appointment.
Under the terms of the non-financial MOU, the roles and responsibilities for collaboration in the mConnect MDD Digital Solution Study project will include:
Holmusk
• Complete Institutional Review Board documents
• Deploy mConnect application
• Accommodate data from DBH’s Electronic Health Record system
• Maintain compliance with all data/security requirements
DBH
• Provide administrative coordination, review and approval
• Identify MDD patient study pool participation
• Conduct assessments/evaluations of study participants
• Administer MDD questionnaire of study participants
The MOU is for the period of March 1, 2022 through February 28, 2025 and may be terminated without cause upon 30 days written notice by either party. DBH will monitor the MOU on a regular basis to ensure compliance standards are met. MOU monitoring is inclusive of, but not limited to, assessments of policy, procedures, process implementation, and service delivery components, to ensure compliance with MOU and applicable laws and regulations.
PROCUREMENT
N/A
REVIEW BY OTHERS
This item has been reviewed by Behavioral Health Contracts (Ellayna Hoatson, Contracts Supervisor, 388-0858) on January 31, 2022; Behavioral Health Information Technology (Manuel Ted Rodriguez, Business Application Manager, 388-0905) on February 3, 2022; County Counsel (Dawn Martin, Deputy County Counsel, 387-5455) on February 3, 2022; Finance (Christopher Lange, Administrative Analyst, 386-8393) on February 3, 2022; and County Finance and Administration (Cheryl Adams, Deputy Executive Officer, 388-0238) on February 14, 2022.