|
Background
Beginning
January 1, 2010, counties are required to pay a portion of any
child’s stay at the Mendota and Winnebago Health Institutes. In
anticipation of this policy change and the increased cost to
counties, members of the Southern Region DHS Directors
group approached WAFCA to explore the possibility of developing
a single point of entry referral network that would facilitate
participating counties’ access to available services.
WAFCA views this as an
important opportunity to respond to our county partners, to
possibly expand service opportunities for member agencies and to
be involved in shaping regional delivery of services for
children and their families.
Request for Proposals
WAFCA is
seeking a lead agency to develop and operate a single point of
entry referral system to access services available from WAFCA
agencies participating in the network. As currently planned,
the service network would begin on March 1, 2010.
Click here
to access the
Request for Proposals. WAFCA
member agencies interested in the lead agency role should
respond to the RFP by January 29th.
Questions on the RFP should be addressed to John Burgess whose
contact information is included in the RFP.
RFP Questions
On January
11th, five questions were posed related to the CSC RFP. Those
questions and the responses are provided below.
Q1 Please provide more clarity on the mechanics of placing
a child from the county’s prospective as it relates to
jurisdiction and requirements in 48 & 51. Who has legal
responsibility for the decision to place?
A The County has the legal responsibility for the
decision to place.
Q2 The RFP states there could be 20 calls per day, based
on past history. This seems high, does this indicate there
could be 20 kids in placement per day?
A Participating counties indicated that they would have
10 to 20 children per day who would be in need of mental health
alternative programming in lieu of Mendota/Winnebago inpatient
care. The number of children in placement does not necessarily
reflect the number of calls per day, as most children stay in
placement for 2 or more days. Thus the number of calls will
likely be less than the number of children in placement.
Q3 Will the call center only be responsible for calls that
are “crisis diversion” calls that in the past went to MMH or WMH,
or will they also get other after-hours calls that might be
children or families in crisis, but not needing placement?
A Crisis Diversion from the Mental Health Institutes
through alternative programming is the intent of the CSC Network
program. County crisis workers will be advised to contact the
CSC lead agency when they have a child that meets that
description. Over time it may be that the definition of
children will broaden, but that will be decided by the CSC
Governance body in consultation with the Lead Agency.
Q4 Who will set the rate for the placement provider?
A The contract for placement services will be between
the County and the placement provider. As the services to be
provided should be child-specific, it is anticipated that the
County and the provider will make the final determination on the
rate paid. At the same time, the CSC Governance body will look
to the Lead Agency to advise on the appropriateness of rates.
Q5 Has there been anymore discussion with County Corp
Council regarding the liability issue and risk sharing? If no,
is there any future in that discussion?
A As Counties will be paying both the Lead Agency and
the Providers under regular County contracting procedures, it is
assumed that liability will be handled the same way as it is
under existing County contracts.
|
