Board approves mental-health billing software to pursue Medi‑Cal and insurance revenue

The board approved a software platform that district mental-health staff said will help submit Medi‑Cal and private insurance claims for school-based services and provide reporting and training for providers. The vendor will take a percentage (described as a fee for ongoing oversight), and staff said monthly reports will flag claim issues for corrective action.

"They will support us with identifying if it's an issue related to the claim or insurance or just identifying where the gap is so that we can then go back and fix it and resubmit the claim," the mental-health lead said, describing the vendor's role in improving claim accuracy and reimbursements. Board members asked about appeals and subrogation (situations where insurers ask for repayment); staff said the district has not yet billed managed-care plans at scale and does not have historic subrogation data but will seek further contract clarification if needed.

The board emphasized the importance of ensuring training for providers and adding intake questions to capture multiple insurance coverage to avoid later coordination-of-benefits headaches. Staff said the initiative aims to grow sustainable funding for mental-health services and to keep providers long term, and that the vendor will provide monthly oversight reports and training as part of implementation.