DATE: May 19, 2026
TO: Board of Supervisors
SUBMITTED BY: Susan L. Holt, Director, Department of Behavioral Health
SUBJECT: Amendment No.1 to Participation Agreement for Credentialing and Recredentialing for California Behavioral Health Plans
RECOMMENDED ACTION:
TITLE
Approve and authorize the Chairman to execute Amendment No. 1 to Participation Agreement No. 25-563 with the California Mental Health Services Authority to continue to participate in the provider credentialing database, extending the term by two years from July 1, 2026, through June 30, 2028, and increasing the maximum compensation by $76,440 to a total of $243,406.
REPORT
There is no additional Net County Cost associated with the recommended action. Approval of the recommended action allows the Department to continue to participate in the standardized Credentialing and Recredentialing for California County Behavioral Health Plans Program offered by the California Mental Health Services Authority (CalMHSA). The Program will support California County Behavioral Health Plans to comply with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) uniform provider credentialing and recredentialing requirements as per DHCS Behavioral Health Information Notice 18-019. This item is countywide.
ALTERNATIVE ACTION(S):
Should your Board not approve the recommended action, the Department would need to continue to utilize internal staff to process provider credentialing applications. Manual processing and tracking would increase administrative burden, increase errors, cause delays, and reduce oversight efficiency. The Department would also need to extract and transition all existing data into a new system. This process will require significant staff time for data extraction, cleanup, validation, and potential manual entry, increasing the risk of errors and delays.
FISCAL IMPACT:
There is no increase in Net County Cost associated with the recommended action. The maximum cost of the agreement ($243,406) will be funded with Realignment funds. Sufficient appropriations and estimated revenues will be included in the Department’s Org 5630 FY 2026-27 Recommended Budget and will be included in subsequent budget requests for the duration of the term of the agreement.
DISCUSSION:
In accordance with the DHCS Behavioral Health Information Notice 18-019, the Department is required to complete uniform provider credentialing and re-credentialing for all network providers. Counties must ensure that each of its network providers is qualified in accordance with current legal, professional, and technical standards, and is appropriately licensed, registered, waivered, and/or certified. These providers must be in good standing with the Medicaid/Medi-Cal programs. Any provider excluded from participation in Federal health care programs, including Medicare or Medicaid/Medi-Cal, may not participate in any County’s provider network. Network providers include county-owned and operated providers (Behavioral Health Plan employees) and contracted organizational providers, provider groups, and individual practitioners. Additionally, DHCS requires counties to verify and document (re-credential) at a minimum every three years that each network provider that delivers covered services continues to possess valid credentials, including verification of each of the credentialing requirements
On November 4, 2025, the Board approved Agreement No. 25-563 with CalMHSA for a provider credentialing database to allow the Department to participate in the standardized Credentialing and Recredentialing for California County Behavioral Health Plans Program offered by CalMHSA to comply with CMS and DHCS uniform provider credentialing and recredentialing requirements as per DHCS Behavioral Health Information Notice 18-019.
In Fiscal Year 2024-25 until the execution of the current agreement, the Department credentialed and re-credentialed 970 providers. Since execution of the current agreement, the Department has credentialed and re-credentialed 25 providers.
The agreement varies from the standard county template as it was drafted by CalMHSA and is utilized by CalMHSA to execute Participation Agreements with different counties and is consistent statewide.
AB339 noticing has occurred and the Human Resources Department approved execution of the recommended amendment.
The recommended action extends the term of the current agreement by two years and increases the maximum compensation to fund that time period and modifies terms under “Exhibit A -Detailed Program Description, Obligations, Restrictions, II. Obligations: CalMHSA Shall” to clarify standard language, and modifies “Attachment B- Credentialing and Recredentialing Cost by Provider Type” which updates National Practitioner Data Bank (NPDB) pass-through fees as an annual fee rather than per occurrence fee.
OTHER REVIEWING AGENCIES:
The Fresno County Behavioral Health Board was notified of the recommended Amendment during the May 2026 meeting
REFERENCE MATERIAL:
BAI #26, November 4, 2025
ATTACHMENTS INCLUDED AND/OR ON FILE:
On file with Clerk - Amendment No. 1 to Participation Agreement 25-563 with CalMHSA
CAO ANALYST:
Ronald Alexander, Jr.