OHA outlines revamp of county financial assistance agreements to boost local accountability for behavioral health services
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Summary
OHA behavioral health leaders described a two-year effort to modernize County Financial Assistance Agreements (CFAA), saying 26 of 35 revamped grant agreements have been executed and that the update streamlines requirements into eight core service areas to improve outcomes and fiscal transparency.
Ebony Clark, behavioral health director at the Oregon Health Authority, told the Ways and Means Human Services Subcommittee that OHA has completed a two-year revamp of County Financial Assistance Agreements (CFAA) to better align state grants with contemporary local behavioral health needs.
"The CFAA are the primary way the state funds community mental health programs to provide critical and essential behavioral health services to meet local needs," Clark told the committee. She said the updated CFAA package reduces administrative burden by consolidating expectations into eight core areas — system management and coordination; crisis services; involuntary and forensic services; outpatient and community-based services; residential and housing supports; behavioral health promotion and prevention; and block grant funded services — while preserving direct contracts for certain child and family services.
Clark said OHA has 35 revamped CFAA agreements and that 26 have been executed to date; she also said one of the CFAAs covers a tribal Community Mental Health Program (Warm Springs). Clark emphasized that the revamp was co-created with local community mental health program directors to strengthen accountability, reporting and fiscal transparency.
The presentation was paused because committee members needed to caucus; the agency said it will return to complete the CFAA briefing and provide more detailed fiscal and outcome metrics at a later date.
