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Board approves behavioral‑health contracts but forms ad hoc to resolve EHR (Avatar) integration
Summary
The Board accepted roughly $19.2 million in specialty mental health contracts for FY 2026–27 and directed staff to preserve payments while creating an ad hoc (Supervisors Mulhern and Williams) to return with a recommendation on full Avatar implementation versus a hybrid interoperability approach for contracted providers.
The Board accepted preliminary specialty mental health contracts totaling $19,206,356 for fiscal year 2026–27 covering five main providers: Anchor Health Management ($2,200,000), Mendocino Coast Hospitality Center ($640,000), Mendocino County Youth Project ($750,000), Redwood Community Services ($10,664,056) and Tapestry Family Services ($4,952,300).
Health Services Director Janine Miller said those contracts reflect the county’s responsibility under state specialty mental health rules (carved‑out severe mental illness population) and noted the state’s new Behavioral Health Services Act requires prioritizing evidence‑based full‑service partnership services and 24/7 timeliness standards.
A lengthy debate focused on the county’s electronic health record, Avatar, and whether contracted providers must adopt Avatar or could function under a hybrid, interoperable model. Providers including Anchor Health and Redwood Community Services warned that requiring full Avatar adoption raises costs, compromises their ability to serve non‑Mendocino clients and could disrupt existing multi‑county service models. Anchor Health’s COO Dan Anderson said technical and reporting limitations in the county system mean providers would need additional engineering support or to maintain separate systems.
Board members expressed concern about sanctions or fines from the state for noncompliant data reporting, and staff acknowledged both the compliance risk and provider constraints. The Board approved the contracts with direction designed to avoid payment interruptions and unanimously formed an ad hoc committee (Supervisors Mulhern and Williams) to work with Behavioral Health and providers and return with a recommended path (full Avatar vs hybrid interoperability) and an implementation timeline.
What happens next: Behavioral Health will finalize contract language to allow continuity of payment, continue technical work on interoperability (APIs and interfaces), and the ad hoc will report back with recommendations on adoption, support resources, and potential contract amendments.
