03/09/2022

Consulting Opportunity: California Supportive Housing Medicaid Academy and CalAIM Community Supports

The CA Health Care Foundation has awarded CSH a grant to support the implementation of CalAIM housing-related Community Supports through:

Training and Technical Assistance for Community-Based Providers with expertise in serving people experiencing homelessness. Training and TA efforts through CSH’s signature product the “Supportive Housing Medicaid Academy” will focus on helping grant-funded housing providers in:

  • accessing funding through Managed Care Plans and MediCal for housing navigation and tenancy support services;
  • building organizational capacity to comply with MediCal and CMS standards for service assessments, service provision, documentation, billing and claims submission;
  • assessing readiness to contract with Managed Care Plans for Community Supports;
  • supporting braided funding models that align with housing resources and complement existing services;
  • prioritizing individuals with disabilities and those facing the greatest barriers to housing by aligning housing-related Community Supports[1] with the Coordinated Entry System;
  • keeping fidelity to evidence-based practice models that promote housing retention, person-centered care and the improvement of health outcomes;
  • and ensuring that housing resources are available to accompany housing navigation and transition services.

Training and technical assistance with Managed Care Plans that are planning to offer or currently offering housing-related Community Supports by developing Fact Sheets, delivering web-based training and facilitating County-wide partnership development and process flow mapping for MCPs, CoCs and County departments to better navigate:

  • contracting challenges and opportunities that arise when partnering with grant-funded community-based organizations serving people experiencing homelessness and formerly unhoused community members;
  • evidence-based practices in housing-related community supports that lead to successful housing and health outcomes for members;
  • aligning housing resources and partnering with housing resource management systems at the State and local levels, including local Coordinated Entry Systems, County agencies, and public housing authorities to ensure members can quickly access housing and remain stably housed without limiting or duplicating needed support services;
  • braided funding opportunities and innovations in incentive payments to build provider network capacity and enhance existing service delivery structures to become more coordinated and better reflect evidence based practice;
  • the total cost of care of community based organizations serving people experiencing homelessness and the current gaps in funding that prevent organizations from scaling up services, retaining staff, and coordinating care; and
  • opportunities and challenges in data sharing and integration with homeless management information systems (HMIS) and housing-related service County funders and providers.

About CSH 

Founded in 1991, CSH’s mission is to advance solutions that use housing as a platform for services to improve the lives of the most vulnerable people, maximize public resources and build healthy communities. To fulfill our mission, CSH works across four lines of business: (1) TRAINING AND EDUCATION to build the capacity of the supportive housing industry; (2) LENDING to cover predevelopment costs and fill gaps in development budgets for new supportive housing; (3) CONSULTING AND TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE for project sponsors to develop plans for creating new supportive housing rooted in evidence-based practices; and (4) POLICY REFORM to streamline resources for supportive housing development.  Supportive housing is affordable housing linked to individualized housing and wrap-around services that address the root causes of long-term homelessness, including chronic physical and behavioral health conditions, systemic inequity and racial disparities in healthcare access and delivery, and the lack of affordable housing for people living with disabilities. Supportive housing creates opportunities for recovery, personal growth, and life-long success for extremely vulnerable individuals and families. Visit us at www.csh.org

Overview of the Program

About CalAIM

In late 2021, the state of California was approved to implement a new Medicaid 1115 Research and Demonstration waiver, CalAIM.[2] The waiver has a variety of goals related to integration of care, shifting to a population health approach and addressing the homelessness crisis in the state.  The waiver shifts a variety of services to Managed Care Plan oversight including many of the services offered in the previous waiver, commonly known as the Whole Person Care (WPC) pilots. WPC services are commonly offered by Community Based Organizations (CBOs) that have historically operated on limited grant or county funding.  In the WPC pilots agencies expanded services and billed their counties for the expansion.  Under the transition to CalAIM, agencies will begin to work with Managed Care Plans (MCPs) to bill for those same services.

About CSH Medicaid Academies

The goal of the project is assist supportive housing agencies, and the Counties and CoCs in which they operate, in making this transition. CSH Medicaid Academies have supported community-based and housing focused agencies to shift to managed care and Medicaid billing in a variety of states. To make this shift agencies must learn how to

  • Conduct assessments and develop a business plan to determine if the agency seeks to provide services by directly contracting with MCPs or if they will become a subcontracted provider offering some or all housing-related Community Supports through a contracted provider (County, FQHC, or other MCP network provider entity);
  • Navigate provider contracting and enrollment with each MCP that operates in their county or region, or navigate provider subcontracting agreement with Community Supports or Enhanced Care Management contracted providers;
  • Develop start up and long term budgets based on services rates that fiscally sustain the agency;
  • Revise policies and procedures to reflect health care program and managed care plan requirements including HIPAA compliance;
  • Develop infrastructure to support documentation and billing of MCPs for services;
  • Plan for hiring and ramp up to deliver and supervise newly contracted services, including any additional services necessary to maintain MediCal enrollment and service authorization, claims submission, services assessments and housing support plans
  • Develop internal processes to ensure quality services are being delivered within the agency’s standards and MCP/MediCal requirements.

CSH will host MediCal Academies in multiple Counties in Fall 2022 and Spring 2023. These Academies will be tailored to local agencies and contexts.  However, it is anticipated that all programs will include high level Medicaid program compliance strategies that can be implemented across counties, regions and plans. Specific approaches used to deliver the proposed MediCal Academy training and technical assistance are expected to vary between communities.

Scope of Consultant Services

This RFI will be used to identify potential consulting partners to support these efforts.  The consulting opportunity is funded as a 12 month project, beginning in May 2022 and ending in May 2023. The goal is ensure that agencies are administratively prepared to bill for Community Support services under CalAIM and/or ready for a larger scale Housing Support Services benefit that may follow in the future. 

We have four primary goals for the grant’s phase of work. The goal is for this work to be completed by May 31, 2023:

Time Frames for specific tasks that the selected consultant must conduct include:

  • Research on how counties and Managed Care Plans are choosing to implement CalAIM.
  • Research on the partnerships being created and innovations in partnerships between County departments, CoCs, MCPs and housing providers.
  • Support for 8 MediCal Academies across the state (4 in 2022 and 4 in 2023)
  • Support for 6 MediCal Academy sessions per Academy (web-based)
  • Support development of training materials and technical assistance documents
  • Coaching and technical assistance for a 24 agencies throughout the process

One of the selection criteria will be the ability of the consultant to manage portions of the academy in an expedited manner, as well as their capacity to support materials developing in a timely manner according to a schedule to be agreed upon by the consultant and CSH. The project is funded through 05/31/2023.  Additional funding may be applied for as the project progresses and the consultant awarded in this round required to support future efforts. 

Funds Available

The estimated funds available for this project are approximately $30,000 over the 12-month period. The actual amount paid to the contractor will vary depending on the final scope of services provided, to be set with consultants after consultants are selected.

RFI Submission Guidelines

Applicant submissions should include:

  1. Introduction: Provide a brief letter of introduction on consultant’s letterhead that includes applicant name, address, phone number and email address;
  1. Experience working with agencies who are operating at the intersection of Health and Housing including Medicaid Administrative programs that:
  2. Describe examples of related training and technical assistance your team has provided;
  3. Describe multi state experiences in the housing, health or ideally intersection of these fields.
  4. Describe experience and knowledge around centering equity in health, housing or homelessness projects
  5. Describe what staff, time and resources you or your agency can offer to support these efforts, including number of hours each month and if availability varies month to month. 
  6. Provide documentation of the qualifications and experience of the organization you represent and staff who will be working on the project; include resumes of key staff as an appendix; include a description of prior experience that is comparable in content, scope and design.
  • Provide a hourly rate and any other associated fees your consulting team expects
  • Insurance-Please note that CSH requires subcontractors, including individuals and sole proprietors, to carry workers’ compensation and Commercial General Liability insurance while performing work under a CSH subcontract. CSH subcontractors should be registered with sam.gov and cannot have existing, pending or expired debarments that preclude them from doing business with the United States government and cannot have convictions for, nor have any pending indictments for, fraud or a criminal offense in connection with a public contract or subcontract. Please share your agencies W9 and other insurance details as part of your submission.

6. Provide at least two names and contact information of individuals who can describe the capacity and experience of the applicant/organization related to evaluation projects of similar scope.

Submit your proposal to: Marcella.Maguire@csh.org (Marcella Maguire, Ph.D. Director Integrated Health Strategies, CSH)

Deadline for Submission:  April 15, 2022 at 5:00 pm PST

Proposals may only be in Adobe Acrobat format. All proposals must be received by CSH by the deadline stated above. Incomplete or late submissions will not be considered.

  • Selection Criteria/Process

All proposals will be reviewed and evaluated by a CSH selection committee.  

Submissions will be evaluated based on the following criteria and qualifications:

  • Demonstrated experience working with housing and health systems and community-based agencies
  • Experience supporting non-profits for growth into Medicaid/MediCal funding
  • Ability to begin activities quickly and ability to turn around products in a timely manner
  • No conflict of interest with CSH, California Health Care Foundation or a CA Health Plan.
  • Staff availability, and readiness to proceed beginning in May 2022
  • Budget feasibility and hourly rate that aligns with CSH budget
  • Prior experience and qualifications
  • Quality of references

Conditions of Proposal Submission:

  • All prospective contractors shall comply with all conditions, requirements and specifications contained herein, with any deviation constituting sufficient cause for rejection of the proposal.
  • Only one proposal will be accepted from any one organization.
  • It is requested that all proposals be prepared in a comprehensive manner as to the content. The format of the submitted proposal shall be as specified in the Request for Information Guidelines.
  • All costs incurred in the preparation and presentation of the submitted proposal, in any way whatsoever, shall be wholly absorbed by the prospective contractor. Any material submitted by the prospective contractor that is to be considered confidential must be clearly marked as such.

Questions

The contact person for all questions is: Marcella Maguire (Marcella.Maguire@csh.org)

Timetable for Selection and Award Process:

April 15th, 2022, 5 pm PST – Complete applications due to CSH

April 22, 2022– Phone interviews scheduled with top candidates

April 29, 2022 – Select evaluator and notify the contractor

May 1, 2022 – Contract period begins


[1] CSH is including the following Community Supports under its definition of housing-related supports: Housing Navigation and Transition Services; Housing and Tenancy Sustaining Services; and Housing Deposits.

[2] https://www.medicaid.gov/medicaid/section-1115-demo/demonstration-and-waiver-list/81046

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