SECTIONS 5879-5883 - California Statutes

WELFARE AND INSTITUTIONS CODE

SECTION 5879-5883

5879. (a) It is the intent of the Legislature to increase the
accountability of mental health and other human services programs
whenever feasible by developing and implementing new and useful
measures of performance, including client and cost outcomes. The
Legislature recognizes the advances in performance and outcome
evaluation made by counties funded under previous statutes and seeks
to continue this development with future participating counties.
(b) It is the intent of the Legislature to have a comparison of
the performance indicators of each participating county to the state
average whenever possible, as well as a comparison of all
participating counties as a group to the state averages.
(c) It is the further intent of the Legislature to have a
comparison of the performance indicators of participating counties to
their history and future anticipated performance based on
utilization trends and costs.

5880. For each selected county the department shall define and
establish client and cost outcome and other system performance goals,
and negotiate the expected levels of attainment for each year of
participation. Expected levels of attainment shall include a
breakdown by ethnic origin and shall be identified by a county in its
proposal. These goals shall include, but not be limited to, both of
the following:
(a) Client improvement and cost avoidance outcome measures, as
follows:
(1) To reduce the number of child months in group homes,
residential placements pursuant to Chapter 26.5 (commencing with
Section 7570) of Division 7 of Title 1 of the Government Code, and
state hospital placements.
(2) To reduce the cost of AFDC-FC group home care, residential
placements as described in paragraph (1), and state hospital
utilization, by an amount which equals at least 50 percent of the
third year project cost. Cost avoidance shall be based on data
comparisons of statewide average expenditure and population.
(3) To increase school attendance for pupils in targeted programs.
(4) To increase the grade level equivalent of pupils in targeted
programs from admission to discharge.
(5) To reduce the rate of recidivism incurred for wards in
targeted juvenile justice programs.
(6) To show measurable improvement in individual and family
functional status for a representative sample of children enrolled in
the system of care.
(7) To achieve statistically significant increases in services
provided in nonclinic settings among agencies.
(8) To increase ethnic minority and gender access to services
proportionate to the percentage of these groups in the county's
school-age population.
(b) System development and operation measures, as follows:
(1) To provide an integrated system of care that includes
multiagency programs and joint case planning, to children who are
seriously emotionally and behaviorally disturbed as defined in
Section 5856.
(2) To identify and assess children who comprise the target
population in the county evidenced by a roster which contains all
children receiving mental health case management and treatment
services. This roster shall include necessary standardized and
uniform identifying information and demographics about the children
served.
(3) To develop and maintain individualized service plans that will
facilitate interagency service delivery in the least restrictive
environment.
(4) To develop or provide access to a range of intensive services
that will meet individualized service plan needs. These services
shall include, but not be limited to, case management, expanded
treatment services at schoolsites, local juvenile corrections
facilities, and local foster homes, and flexible services.
(5) To ensure the development and operation of the interagency
policy council and the interagency case management council.
(6) To provide culturally competent programs that recognize and
address the unique needs of ethnic populations in relation to equal
access, program design and operation, and program evaluation.
(7) To develop parent education and support groups, and linkages
with parents to ensure their involvement in the planning process and
the delivery of services.
(8) To provide a system of evaluation that develops outcome
criteria and which will measure performance, including client outcome
and cost avoidance.
(9) To gather, manage, and report data in accordance with the
requirements of the state funded outcome evaluation.

5881. (a) Evaluation shall be conducted by both participating
county evaluation staff and, subject to the availability of funds, by
the department.
(b) Evaluation at both levels shall do all of the following:
(1) Ensure that county level systems of care are serving the
targeted population.
(2) Ensure that the timely performance data related to client
outcome and cost avoidance is collected, analyzed, and reported.
(3) Ensure that system of care components are implemented as
intended.
(4) Provide information documenting needs for future planning.

5882. (a) Participating counties shall assign sufficient resources
to performance evaluation to enable the county to fulfill all
evaluation responsibilities specified in the contract with the
department.
(b) Counties shall cooperate with the department regarding the
development of uniform measures of performance.

5883. (a) The department shall facilitate improved access to
relevant client and financial data from all state agencies,
including, but not limited to, the State Department of Social
Services, the State Department of Education, the State Department of
Health Services, the State Department of Mental Health, the
Department of the Youth Authority, and the Department of Finance.
(b) The State Department of Mental Health shall expand the funding
allocated to the contract for independent evaluation, as necessary
to accommodate the increase in workload created by the addition of
new sites.
(c) Subject to the availability of funds, the department shall do
all of the following:
(1) Develop uniform data collection and reporting measures
applicable to all participating counties.
(2) Collect, analyze, and report performance outcome data for
participating counties as a group in comparison to state averages.
(3) Offer technical assistance to participating counties related
to data collection, analysis, and reporting.