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Counties press Oregon Health Authority over contract language; Clatsop joins stance to withhold signature amid liability concerns
Summary
Clatsop County staff and commissioners reported ongoing, unresolved negotiations over the Oregon Health Authority behavioral health contract; the county supports other local providers' decision to not sign until liability and contract language are addressed.
Clatsop County officials reported continued, unresolved negotiations with the Oregon Health Authority (OHA) over a county pass-through contract for community mental health and behavioral health services. Assistant county staff briefed the board that county partners and the local Coordinated Behavioral Health (CBH) provider are resisting contract language that could expose counties to financial liability if the state does not provide funding for required services.
Assistant county management staff described meetings with OHA and noted that CBH's executive director, identified in the meeting as Shira, asked counties to withhold signature on the contract. CBH told the county it could temporarily use reserve funds to maintain services if the county does not sign and the state delays passage, and that any reserves used would be replenished when retroactive payments flow after a contract is executed. County staff said the county passes roughly $3.5 million to $4.0 million annually through this contract to the local CBH provider, though CBH also has other braided funding streams.
Commissioner Mary (recorded as Thompson) and others expressed concern that if counties sign contract language placing liability on them for fines or obligations that arise from state-level failures (the meeting mentions state hospital contempt fines and enforcement risk), counties could be required to pay for services without receipt of state funds. The Association of Oregon Counties (AOC) is leading a coordinated approach, and a meeting involving the governor and AOC was reported as scheduled; however, Clatsop County representatives were not included in the small, structured delegation to that meeting.
OHA reportedly has discussed the possibility of engaging alternative providers if counties refuse to sign, though participants in the meeting said OHA did not make that statement on the record during the county's briefing and the county would treat any such claims as an off-the-record or separate conversation.
County staff said they will continue to coordinate with AOC and other counties. No formal board vote was taken; commissioners expressed support for standing with regional partners seeking contract language changes and for continuing to press for state-level solutions to the financial and liability questions raised by the draft contract.
