Plumas County behavioral health staff told the commission on July 2 that state regulators have found network reporting and adequacy problems for the county’s specialty mental health network and that staffing shortages are affecting urgent‑care targets and mobile crisis implementation.

Jessica (quality assurance lead) said correspondence from the California Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) flagged the county’s network for deficiencies in provider FTE reporting and that the county missed one urgent‑appointment target required at 80 percent. Jessica said the county reports monthly, quarterly and annually and that the next submissions aim to clear those deficiencies by July or August.

Staff reported the county is short one child therapist FTE and that small absolute changes in caseloads can make it difficult to meet the mandated ratios. The county has three therapists on staff with limited child capacity (reported as 0.25 FTE for children), Jessica said.

Mobile crisis implementation remains on a corrective action plan because the county currently cannot staff a 24/7 mobile crisis benefit; staff said the model requires at least two staff per shift with one licensed clinician. Jessica said stakeholder attendance at implementation meetings was low and the county plans a hybrid (Teams) meeting in September to broaden participation.

Behavioral health leadership reported operational steps: posting for an administrative assistant and hiring practicum students to provide part‑time support, moving some services into a Greenbelt office that cannot be used for telehealth because the site Wi‑Fi is not secure, and continuing external audits including an integrated Medi‑Cal audit and an external quality review expected in September.

Commissioners were briefed on utilization numbers: for June the county had 250 open specialty mental‑health charts with 177 unduplicated clients served (about 70% of open charts), 16 new intakes in June, and a small number of mobile crisis contacts. Staff noted ongoing LPS (involuntary hold) reporting cycles and a grievance queue of three staff‑behavior concerns.