The New York State Office of Mental Health, (OMH) is issuing a Request for Proposals (RFP) for eligible applicants to submit proposals to serve as a contractor to assist peer-operated programs in developing an infrastructure on a cooperative basis, OMH is providing funding for the support of an Independent Practice Association (IPA) among the peer-operated programs.
This will allow for the development of a cost-efficient infrastructure to operate in a Medicaid managed care environment and the ability to handle shared-risk contracts under value-based payment models.
OMH supports the development of peer-operated programs through grants and technical assistance. In a managed care environment, these programs face challenges that may seem similar to traditional agencies but are in reality very different.
Peer-operated programs tend to be small and serve a relatively small geographic area. While this is helpful in providing more personal and individualized care for people who don’t respond to more traditional or clinical services, this is a disadvantage when contracting with a managed care plan and almost impossible to consider a risk-sharing contract under value-based payments.
Much like traditional programs, peer-operated programs need to develop a cooperative strategy such as mergers, or Independent Practice Associations to face the challenges. While the traditional clinical programs have been billing Medicaid for many years, this is a newer and added challenge for peer-operated programs. The programs lack some of the basic infrastructure such as Medicaid billing and compliance as well as IT services that the traditional programs have already developed.
This RFP can be found on the OMH website under Procurement Opportunities at: https://www.omh.ny.gov/omhweb/rfp/
The RFP can also be found on the Grants Gateway at: https://grantsreform.ny.gov
Public Information Office
Office of Mental Health
44 Holland Avenue
Albany, NY 12229
omh.ny.gov
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