DATE: January 27, 2026
TO: Board of Supervisors
SUBMITTED BY: Susan L. Holt, Director, Department of Behavioral Health
SUBJECT: Retroactive Agreement with County of Santa Cruz - Mental Health-Based Medi-Cal Administrative Activities Agreement
RECOMMENDED ACTION(S):
TITLE
Approve and authorize the Chairman to execute a retroactive Mental Health-Based Medi-Cal Administrative Activities Agreement with the County of Santa Cruz to allow member participation effective July 1, 2025, through June 30, 2028.
REPORT
There is no additional Net County Cost associated with the recommended action. The recommended action will allow the Department to retain membership as part of the Mental Health-Based Medi-Cal Administrative Activities (MHMAA) Local Government Agency (LGA) Consortium. The County of Santa Cruz (Host Entity) acts as the administrative and fiscal intermediary between the California Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) and all participating LGAs. Some duties of the Host Entity include maintaining an interest-bearing trust fund for the Consortium participation fees, managing of contracts and providing quarterly revenue and expenditure reports on behalf of the Consortium. As a member of the Consortium, the Department's duties are to pay their portion of the Participation Fee and process all their MHMAA claims for reimbursements. This item is countywide.
ALTERNATIVE ACTION(S):
Should your Board not approve the recommended action, the Department can continue MHMAA claiming but will have to devote additional time and resources into the planning and overall execution of its MHMAA claim plan and fees, as well as lose access to the resource of other participating counties in the Consortium.
RETROACTIVE AGREEMENT:
The recommended Agreement is retroactive to July 1, 2025. This item is being brought to your Board retroactively due to a routing delay. The Department has updated contact information with the Host Entity and has implemented escalation procedures t...
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