On August 28th, the New York State Office of Mental Health (OMH) released the Q&A document for the Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinic (CCBHC) Request for Proposals (RFP), which was issued in July.
Under this RFP, awarded agencies will receive one-time startup funding of $265,000 and programmatic support to grow their clinic to reach CCBHC Demonstration standards by July 1, 2024. Awardees will have the opportunity to participate in the Demonstration for its remaining duration through September 2025 (unless extended). Applications are due by September 28th. SPG’s full summary is available here.
The Q&A on the RFP contains more than 200 questions and answers. Below is a summary of some notable clarifications and answers.
Eligibility
- To be eligible, applicants must have both an Article 31 Part 599 Mental Health Outpatient Treatment and Rehabilitation (MHOTRS) clinic license and an Article 32 Part 822 Outpatient Services clinic certification. However, the applicant’s proposed CCBHC clinic site does not need to be dually licensed—it may have either or both.
- Agencies that currently have SAMHSA CCBHC Expansion Grant Awards are eligible to apply for this opportunity, so long as they meet all other agency and site eligibility requirements stated in the RFP.
- Current CCBHCs participating in the Federal CCBHC Demonstration can apply for a new CCBHC site through this RFP, which would receive its own PPS rate and be required to submit a unique CCBHC Cost Report annually.
CCBHC Site Selection
- Each selected agency will be authorized to implement the full CCBHC model (i.e. providing all nine core services) at an existing clinic site in the proposed geography.
- However, after being awarded, agencies will have the opportunity to evaluate additional locations in the community for suitability. Additional sites may then later be authorized. If they are, the CCBHC will need to update its Cost Report to reflect costs associated with these sites.
Geography
- Applicants must complete a Community Needs Assessment that identifies the counties and populations served within the allocated Economic Development Region (EDR) or borough.
- Agencies are not required to serve the entire EDR.
- OMH expects that awardees will serve entire counties. However, if there are reasons an agency is unable to do so, this must be indicated in the application as well as the community needs assessment.
Threshold Visits and Core Services
- A threshold, or daily visit, is defined as any visit where one or more of the nine core CCBHC services are provided to an individual on a given date by either the staff of the CCBHC or staff of a CCBHC’s contracted Designated Collaborating Organization (DCO). The nine core CCBHC services are defined in the NYS CCBHC Scope of Services Provider Manual, available here.
- Telemedicine visits are considered threshold visits if they are in compliance with current Part 599 and Part 822 clinic regulations, as well as updated Part 596 and Part 830 Telehealth guidance.
DCOs
- Applicants should refer to the NYS CCBHC Scope of Services Provider Manual (available here) to understand which of the nine core CCBHC services can be provided by a contracted DCO.
- CCBHCs are responsible for billing for services provided by DCOs and providing reimbursement to their DCOs, based on terms agreed to between them. The DCO is not reimbursed at “net-cost.”
Cost Report and PPS Methodology
- The CCBHC Cost Report must reflect the full cost and total threshold/daily visits (historical and anticipated) for operation of the proposed CCBHC.
- Costs related to co-located services should not be counted on the CCBHC Cost Report. That is, if the site where the CCBHC will be located has other services that are not part of the CCBHC operations, expenditures and visits associated with the non-CCBHC services should be excluded from cost reporting. This would apply to, for example, co-located PROS, ACT, and CFTSS services.
- The PPS rate is paid every day an individual crosses the threshold of the CCBHC, as long as at least one CCBHC service is provided on that day. Exceptions are related to the provision of Mobile Crisis Services:
- Under the current PPS, mobile crisis services are a threshold visit if:
- Crisis services are provided directly by the CCBHC, upon crisis assessment;
- Crisis services are provided to an established/existing patient (by the CCBHC or by a DCO);
- Crisis services are provided by a DCO, upon crisis assessment, and the patient receives another CCBHC service as well.
- New York may also choose to implement the new PPS-3, which carves out crisis services as a separate component.
- Under the current PPS, mobile crisis services are a threshold visit if:
Demonstration Readiness
- Awardees must reach demonstration CCBHC Demonstration standards by July 1, 2024. As part of this process, awarded agencies may need to apply for authorization to provide Integrated Outpatient Services (IOS) by July 1, 2024.
- If an applicant’s current (OASAS or OMH) license only allows the program to serve individuals 18 years and older, the applicant may apply to amend the licenses to include children by July 1, 2024. Eligible agencies considering submitting a proposal must evaluate if they will be able to achieve capacity within the proposed clinic site to provide children’s and youth services by then.
The full Q&A document is available here. Proposals are due by 1pm on September 28th.