Shasta County and Partnership HealthPlan of California have executed an 18-page memorandum of understanding to coordinate Medi-Cal and behavioral-health services for children, youth and families involved in the county’s child-welfare system, including foster care and Family Maintenance. The MOU is an ongoing, no-compensation agreement involving the county Health and Human Services Agency’s Behavioral Health and Social Services branch and the Medi-Cal managed-care plan.
Under the agreement, Partnership is responsible for authorizing and coordinating medically necessary covered services, while the county continues providing child-welfare services. The MOU calls for coordination of Medi-Cal for Kids and Teens services, behavioral-health and substance-use services, Enhanced Care Management, Community Supports and Community Health Worker services. It also requires care coordination to continue when children change foster-care placements, move between counties or age out of foster care.
The agreement sets several implementation deadlines. The county and Partnership must develop urgent- and emergency-care coordination workflows within six months of the MOU’s effective date. Within one year, the parties must develop initial population dashboards tracking referrals, service use and selected child-welfare health outcomes, as well as protocols for secure data sharing. The agreement also requires quarterly oversight meetings addressing referrals, barriers to care, quality improvement and case-specific issues.
The MOU directs Partnership to maintain an up-to-date database of child-welfare members, provide referral and utilization reports, and post specified quarterly meeting information. Information exchanges must be limited to what is necessary and comply with privacy laws. The document also calls for coordination of medical and dental exams within 30 calendar days under the cited child-welfare standard and requires services identified through screening or visits to be provided or coordinated within 60 calendar days when medically necessary.
The agreement may be ended by either party with 90 days’ written notice and is subject to annual review and updates when state or federal requirements change. The displayed signature materials identify Partnership CEO Sonja Bjork and Shasta County Board Chair Chris Kelstrom as signatories, but do not show a separately completed effective-date field. The record also does not include a baseline count of affected Shasta County children or expected staffing costs.
