Human Services seeks EHR and billing capacity to capture administrative revenue; CJCC updates on pretrial services

Peter Clegg, director of Tooele County Human Services, asked the commission to fund an electronic health record (EHR) system and a fiscal analyst to increase the county's capacity to bill and collect administrative fees on non-Medicaid behavioral-health funding.

Clegg said the EHR would allow the county to capture claims and administrative fees that are currently contracted out or not billed centrally; with the EHR and a dedicated fiscal analyst for coding and billing setup, he projected possible net savings of about $350,000 annually from administrative revenue capture and better oversight of local match obligations. Clegg described the EHR as a one-time or recurring software expense (roughly $8,000—$10,000 per year expected for licensing) and the fiscal analyst as an ongoing personnel cost that would be added only if the county approves building the revenue-capture capacity.

Separately, the county's Criminal Justice Coordinating Council (CJCC) reported that AMP pretrial services has been operating in local courts under a two-year grant and that the council is pursuing a receiving-center funding position in a state queue; the CJCC stressed the need for better data collection and cross-system sharing to track recidivism and pretrial outcomes.

Clegg also noted a modest expected increase in the county's Medicaid liability due to population growth and said the department will establish a new transparent line item for local match obligations tied to non-Medicaid behavioral-health services to simplify state audits and reporting.

The CJCC representative emphasized the state funds the pretrial services grant but that local CJCC operations are county-funded; council members asked about the grant horizon and were told the pretrial grant runs through September of the next year, with potential renewal uncertain.