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C. 22

To:	Board of Supervisors
From:	Kathy Gallagher, Employment & Human Services Director
Date:	January 13, 2015

Contra

Costa

County

Subject:

Contract for Operations of the Covered California Call Center

APPROVE	OTHER
RECOMMENDATION OF CNTY ADMINISTRATOR	RECOMMENDATION OF BOARD COMMITTEE

Action of Board On: 01/13/2015

APPROVED AS RECOMMENDED

OTHER

Clerks Notes:

VOTE OF SUPERVISORS

AYE:

John Gioia, District I Supervisor
Candace Andersen, District II Supervisor
Mary N. Piepho, District III Supervisor
Karen Mitchoff, District IV Supervisor
Federal D. Glover, District V Supervisor

Contact:

Wendy Therrian, 925-313-1593

I hereby certify that this is a true and correct copy of an action taken and entered on the minutes of the Board of Supervisors on the date shown.
ATTESTED: January 13, 2015
David Twa,

BY:	, Deputy

RECOMMENDATION(S):

APPROVE and AUTHORIZE the Chair of the Board of Supervisors to execute a contract with the State of California, Health Benefit Exchange, to pay the County an amount not to exceed $33,754,425 for the continued operations of the Contra Costa County Covered California Call Center for the period of February 1, 2015 through June 30, 2017. (No County match)

FISCAL IMPACT:

100% State reimbursement, via Federal funds, authorized under the Affordable Care Act. No County general purpose revenue will be used to support the Call Center.

FISCAL IMPACT: (CONT'D)

This contract provides for reimbursement by the State of California for all costs incurred by the County in the operations of the Call Center. The costs over the period of the contract are:

February 1, 2015 through June 30, 2015 - $5,575,464
July 1, 2015 through June 30,2016 - $13,766,962
July 1, 2016 through June 30,2017 - $14,411,999

BACKGROUND:

The Department has successfully operated the Contra Costa County Covered California Call Center which is otherwise known as the “7Cs” Call Center. The 7Cs Call Center is the only County-operated Covered California Call Center in the State and has been operated by the Department under contract with the Health Benefit Exchange (HBEX) since March 2013.

The first launch of Covered California Call Centers was initiated by the Employment & Human Services Department (EHSD) when the Department undertook the first “soft” launch of the 7Cs Call Center in August 2013 taking informational statewide calls from interested Covered California customers. On October 1, 2013, the Center (one of three Covered California Call Centers in the State) began all operational activities by taking statewide calls and in providing health care coverage plan enrollment during this initial Open Enrollment period under the Affordable Care Act (ACA).

The 7Cs Call Center handles an average (over a seven month period) of over 158,000 calls per month and close to 200,000 calls per month during the open enrollment period.

With the approval of the contract recommended in this Board Order, the operations of the 7Cs Call Center will continue to the next 29 months, providing jobs to County residents, and assisting residents throughout the State in obtaining health care coverage. Some changes contained in this contract, compared to the current contract which expires on January 31, 2015, include the following:

The original contract did not allow for the reimbursement of overtime costs. The new contract allows for reimbursement of all costs associated with overtime work performed by paid staff when that overtime has been requested by the State.
The identification of other services to be provided at the Center (beyond determining eligibility) including health care plan enrollment and certification; addressing questions/discrepancies in health care plans, coverage, or payments, or to assist with broker assistance; and, in determining the status of either paper or on-line applications. We perform this work already.
Deleted existing references in Exhibit A pertaining to the ratio of Customer Service Agents (CSAs) to Supervisors and the ratio of Supervisors to Managers for performance and cost purposes.
Included chat and email as other means of customer communication with the 7Cs CSAs beyond phone calls.
Allowing for reimbursement for the time our CSAs log-on and off the CalHEERs and CRM systems.
Informing us in advance (when feasible) of any system or technology problems which may affect Call Center operations, service levels, or performance.
Deleted the training certification as a pre-requisite for CSAs to take calls.
Inclusion of a new section on Background Investigations (to be directly discussed with Covered California) in which we are to submit the background investigations conducted on our 7Cs Call Center staff (again, this new requirement requires a more direct discussion).

CONSEQUENCE OF NEGATIVE ACTION:

Should the Board of Supervisors decide not to approve the recommended contract, the Contra Costa County Covered California Call Center would be shut down. The State of California would absorb the workload at their call center locations.

CHILDREN'S IMPACT STATEMENT:

The five community outcomes established in the Children’s Report Card are supported by the operations of the 7C’s call center. The five outcomes are: (1) Children Ready for and Succeeding in School; (2) Children and Youth Healthy and Preparing for Productive Adulthood; (3) Families that are Economically Self Sufficient; (4) Families that are Safe, Stable and Nurturing; and (5) Communities that are Safe and Provide a High Quality of Life for Children and Families. By providing the opportunity for children and families to obtain and retain health care coverage, children are more likely to achieve all five of these outcomes.