DATE: June 18, 2024
TO: Board of Supervisors
SUBMITTED BY: Sanja Bugay, Director, Department of Social Services
Susan L. Holt, Director, Department of Behavioral Health
David Luchini, RN, PHN, Director, Department of Public Health
Kirk Haynes, Chief Probation Officer, Probation Department
John Zanoni, Sheriff-Coroner-Public Administrator
Antionette Taillac, Public Defender, Public Defender’s Office
Sally Gomez, County Librarian, Fresno County Public Library
SUBJECT: Agreement with California State University, Fresno for Student Clinical
and Field Experience
RECOMMENDED ACTION(S):
TITLE
Approve and authorize the Chairman to execute an Agreement with California State University, Fresno to provide students with supervised clinical and field experience through County programs, effective July 1, 2024, not to exceed five consecutive years, which includes a three-year base contract and two optional one-year extensions. ($0).
REPORT
There is no Net County Cost associated with the recommended action, which will provide student interns enrolled at California State University, Fresno (CSUF) with clinical and field experience opportunities with the Department of Social Services, Behavioral Health, Public Health, Probation, Sheriff, Library, and the Public Defender’s Office. This item is countywide.
ALTERNATIVE ACTION(S):
Your Board could choose not to approve the recommended action; however, doing so would prevent the County from accepting CSUF current and future student interns and eliminate the opportunity for the interns to gain clinical and field experience as part of their education.
FISCAL IMPACT:
There is no increase in Net County Cost associated with the recommend action, as there is no exchange of funds. CSUF provides worker’s compensation and professional liability insurance coverage for all students who participate in the program.
DISCUSSION:
The County has maintained a long contractual relationship with CSUF to provide student interns with clinical and field experience opportunities at various County departments. The County’s current agreement with CSUF will expire on June 30, 2024. The recommended agreement is necessary to continue such an arrangement.
The opportunity to provide clinical and field experience to students attending CSUF enhances services for Fresno County consumers, as well as provides the students with an awareness of the challenges and rewards of working with this population. The County has benefited from placement of CSUF interns, as it provides training for students who may be potential future qualified County employees after graduation.
The recommended agreement satisfies all applicable vendor insurance requirements stipulated in County agreements, as determined by Risk Management. It further requires CSUF to provide each student with professional liability insurance which insures that students against liability stemming from negligence or other issues that may arise from providing or failing to provide professional services.
The recommended agreement includes mutual hold harmless clauses and stipulates that student interns are not employees of the County and will not replace the County workforce. In addition to other applicable program and security training, student interns will be required to complete applicable County training for Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and to meet all HIPAA requirements to access and use Private Health Information (PHI).
Upon approval by your Board, the recommended agreement will be effective July 1, 2024 through June 30, 2027, with two optional twelve month renewal terms, with the same terms and conditions based on CSUF’s satisfactory performance. The recommended agreement allows CSUF, or County, and/or the Director of Social Services or designee(s) to terminate the agreement without cause, upon giving six months advance written notice. This deviates from the standard County contract language, which provides thirty days’ written notice to terminate, in order to allow students more time to complete their placements, as well as to provide CSUF time to find new placements for students, should the agreement be terminated. Each County department has the option to discontinue participation with sixty day written notice to CSUF and the Director of the Department of Social Services.
REFERENCE MATERIAL:
BAI #31, October 20, 2020
BAI #54, April 23, 2019
ATTACHMENTS INCLUDED AND/OR ON FILE:
On file with Clerk - Agreement with CSUF
CAO ANALYST:
Ronald Alexander