fyDATE: April 11, 2023
TO: Board of Supervisors
SUBMITTED BY: John Zanoni, Sheriff-Coroner-Public Administrator
Kirk Haynes, Chief Probation Officer
SUBJECT: Retroactive PATH Grant Application and Award
RECOMMENDED ACTION(S):
TITLE
1. Retroactively authorize the Sheriff-Coroner-Public Administrator’s previous submittal of a grant application to the State of California Department of Health and Human Services for Providing Access and Transforming Health Supports grant to support the planning process related to the implementation of the statewide California Advancing and Innovating Medi-Cal Initiative ($150,000), for the period of August 5, 2022 through August 5, 2027;
2. Receive award letter and authorize the Sheriff-Coroner-Public Administrator or his designee to sign any initial award documents and other required documents that are necessary to accept and collect this revenue;
3. Adopt Budget Resolution increasing FY 2022-23 appropriations and estimated revenues for the Sheriff-Coroner-Public Administrator’s Org 3111 in the amount of $100,000 (4/5 vote); and
4. Adopt Budget Resolution increasing FY 2022-23 appropriations and estimated revenues for Probation Org 3440 in the amount of $50,000. (4/5 vote).
REPORT
There is no additional Net County Cost associated with the recommended actions. Approval of the first recommended action would approve and authorize the Sheriff’s previous submittal of a grant application to Department of Health and Human Services (DHCS) through the California Advancing & Innovating Medi-Cal (CalAIM) Initiative for the Providing Access and Transforming Health Supports (PATH) funding authorized by Assembly Bill (AB) 133 (Chapter 143, Statues 2021) and the five-year amendment. The second recommended action authorizes the Sheriff or his designee to sign initial award documentation and other required documents necessary to accept and collect this revenue. Approval of the third recommended action will increase FY 2022-23 appropriations and estimated revenues in the Sheriff-Coroner-Public Administrator’s Org 3111 by $100,000. Approval of the fourth recommended action will increase FY 2022-23 appropriations and estimated revenues in Probation’s Org 3440 by $50,000. There is no Agreement with this award as only the award letter was provided to the County. There is no additional Net County Cost associated with this action. This item is countywide.
ALTERNATIVE ACTION(S):
If the recommended actions are not approved, the Sheriff’s Office would not have the resources to the support the planning processes related to the implementation of the full suite of statewide CalAIM justice involved initiatives in 2023.
RETROACTIVE AGREEMENT:
This revenue agreement was awarded on August 5, 2022 and funds were received in November 2022. Although staff received the award notification on August 5, 2022, the item is coming to your Board retroactively approximately five months after funds were received. Department staff are proactively working on scheduling items to come before your Board in a timely manner.
FISCAL IMPACT:
There is no increase in Net County Cost associated with the recommended actions. Approval of the recommended actions will potentially increase revenues for FY 2022-23 in the amount of $100,000 for the Sheriff-Coroner- Public Administrator; this award will be part of Round 1 of PATH Funding. The awarded amount was $150,000 dollars of which $50,000 was transferred over to Fresno County Probation Department since the State could only make one payment to the County.
Approval of the third recommended action will increase FY 2022-23 appropriations and estimated revenues in the Sheriff-Coroner-Public Administrator’s Org 3111 by $100,000. Approval of the fourth recommended action will increase FY 2022-23 appropriations and estimated revenues in Probation’s Org 3440 by $50,000.
DISCUSSION:
California became the first state in the nation to offer a targeted set of Medicaid (Medi-Cal) services to youth and adults in state prisons, county jails and youth detention and commitment facilities for up to 90 days prior to release. Currently, Medi-Cal services are generally available only after release from incarceration. Through a federal Medicaid 1115 demonstration waiver, the DHCS will establish a coordinated community reentry process that will assist people leaving incarceration to connect to the physical and behavioral health care services they need upon release.
The Department of Health Care Services opened up the first round of application acceptance in July and the Sheriff’s Department applied for the grant on July 20, 2022. The grant application was sent directly to the DHCS. DHCS approved Fresno County Sheriff/ Probation as a recipient of the PATH Round 1 funding authorized by Assembly Bill (AB) 133 (Chapter 143, Statutes 2021) and the five-year amendment and renewal Section 1115 demonstration on August 5th.
The County was awarded $150,000 for collaborative planning and that award was divided with $100,000 to Fresno County Sheriff and $50,000 to Fresno County Probation Department. The maximum amount of funding that applicants are eligible to request depends on the type of applicant and the number of correctional institutions within their jurisdiction. Sheriff’s Offices and Probation Offices may request up to $50,000 for the first correctional facility in their jurisdiction, and an additional $25,000 for every additional correctional facility, up to maximum of $400,000.
Round 1 of the PATH Justice-Involved capacity building program provides planning grants to correctional agencies and correctional institutions to support them as they work to identify and scope out the processes, protocols, and IT system infrastructure modifications that are necessary to implement or modify pre-release Medi-Cal enrollment and suspension processes. When the Sheriff’s Office and Probation Department complete these planning activities, it is expected that they will have a detailed understanding of the specific steps that they will need to undertake to successfully implement pre-release Medi-Cal enrollment and suspension processes or to modify processes to incorporate CalAIM best practices for Medi-Cal enrollment and suspension.
Specific permissible uses of the funding include but are not limited to the following:
1. Facilitating meetings and collaborative planning sessions between correctional institutions and county social service departments;
2. Hiring vendors or consultants to help identify operational gaps that need to be addressed to implement the pre-release enrollment and suspension processes, including but not limited to IT system modifications;
3. Support for initial costs related to recruiting, hiring, and onboarding staff who will have a direct role in planning for implementation of pre-release enrollment and suspension processes; and
4. Support for staff time devoted to planning, meeting facilitation, and development of applications for Funding Round 2.
Approval of the third recommended action will increase FY 2022-23 appropriations and estimated revenues in the Sheriff-Coroner-Public Administrator’s Org 3111 by $100,000. Approval of the fourth recommended action will increase FY 2022-23 appropriations and estimated revenues in Probation’s Org 3440 by $50,000.
ATTACHMENTS INCLUDED AND/OR ON FILE:
On file with Clerk - Fresno County PATH Funding Approval Letter
On file with Clerk - Budget Resolution 3111
On file with Clerk - Budget Resolution 3440
CAO ANALYST:
Samantha Buck