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County staff: state taking over jail mental-health telehealth; county to amend local contract
Summary
Corrections staff told the board the state is taking over mental-health and telehealth services in local correctional facilities effective July 1; the county plans to seek an amendment to its contract with Advanced Correctional Healthcare and may onboard FlowState as a state provider, with billing routed to state/Medicaid.
County corrections and health staff reported a change in how mental-health services inside local correctional facilities will be delivered and billed: the state has assumed responsibility for providing mental-health and telehealth services as of July 1, and the county is working to amend its local contract to align with that shift.
David (speaker S8) told the board the county had contracts in place with local providers and is working to amend its contract with Advanced Correctional Healthcare (ACH) to allow the state to assume service hours and direct billing. He said the county is bringing in FlowState, one of two state-approved providers, and hopes to amend the ACH contract this year so those hours will be diverted to the state and billed directly to Medicaid or other state mechanisms.
"We're working on amending that contract with Advanced Correctional Healthcare, but we are bringing in FlowState who's one of the two providers for the state to provide mental health care, via telehealth and in person as needed," David said. He told the board onboarding with the state-approved provider was scheduled to start the next Monday and indicated the county was still finalizing amendment language.
Staff emphasized the move shifts a substantial portion of mental-health service provision and prescription medication billing from the county to state public-health and Medicaid mechanisms; members noted the timing is difficult because contractual work often occurs earlier in the season and many contracts were already signed. The board requested that staff keep the board informed as contract amendments are finalized.
