(a) Findings.
(1) On November 4, 2008, the voters approved Proposition T, the “Treatment on Demand Act” requiring the Department of Public Health (“DPH”) to provide an adequate level of free and low-cost medical substance abuse services and residential treatment slots commensurate with the demand for these services. The Treatment on Demand Act requires the City to be flexible in providing various treatment modalities for both residential substance abuse treatment services and medical substance abuse treatment services.
(2) In 2019, the City enacted Ordinance No. 300-19, establishing Mental Health SF, a program intended to improve access to mental health and substance use treatment by expanding services to help residents who are experiencing homelessness and reduce excessive wait times and provide adequate resources at every stage of treatment.
(3) To carry out the Treatment on Demand Act and Mental Health SF program, DPH contracts with entities that provide residential care and treatment services, including but not limited to residential care facilities, board and care facilities, mental rehabilitation centers, withdrawal management facilities, and residential treatment facilities. Such facilities provide beds, behavioral health treatment, medication, and counseling for DPH patients with behavioral health and substance abuse needs.
(4) DPH also assists patients with other urgent public health needs, such as patients with infectious or contagious diseases in need of a temporary isolation or quarantine location, and domestic violence victims in need of temporary housing. Since those circumstances necessarily require a rapid response, DPH must quickly procure services to address those needs from entities that provide public health residential care services. For purposes of this Section, “Services” means the behavioral health residential care and treatment services and the public health residential care services described in subsections (a)(3) and (a)(4).
(5) DPH continues to experience waitlists for behavioral health residential care and treatment programs, including for example, as long as four months, depending on the category of bed, based on a June 2020 DPH study. The waitlists for such programs negatively affect the populations served by DPH because people may not be able to access care at the moment they are ready to engage in it, and may continue to experience harm associated with their mental health or substance use disorder while awaiting care. Additionally, patients in need of isolation or quarantine rooms may wait in higher-level acute care facilities if adequate spaces are not readily and quickly available, occupying treatment and care spaces for patients in need of acute care.
(6) Without the authority to quickly procure Services from readily available Service Providers, as defined herein, DPH will continue to experience waitlists for behavioral health treatment programs and services and will not be able to quickly place patients with urgent public health needs in an appropriate location. When there are increases in demand for such Services, DPH needs to be able to respond rapidly to meet the demand. For purposes of this Section 21A.4, “Service Provider” means any entity that provides either behavioral health residential care and treatment Services or public health residential care Services, as described in this subsection (a).
(7) The Board of Supervisors hereby finds that the public interest is served by authorizing DPH to timely and efficiently enter into agreements with Service Providers to meet the imminent need for behavioral and public health needs of City residents. In light of this public purpose, DPH may procure such Services without adhering to the competitive solicitation requirements of the Administrative Code, the City’s Local Business Enterprise requirements in Chapter 14B of the Administrative Code, or any other applicable competitive solicitation requirement.
(b) The Director of Health, or the Director’s designee, is hereby authorized to purchase Services from Service Providers directly, without the approval of the Purchaser, and without adhering to the requirements of Section 21.1 or Chapter 14B of the Administrative Code, or any other applicable competitive procurement requirement.
(c) By January 31 of each year, DPH shall submit to the Health Commission an annual report that includes the following information for each agreement that DPH executed during the prior fiscal year under the authority of subsection (b): the name of the Service Provider; the Services to be provided under the agreement; the amount of funds conveyed; the duration of the agreement; and any measurable outcomes of the agreement.
(d) This Section 21A.4 shall expire by operation of law five years from its effective date. Upon expiration of this Section, the City Attorney is authorized to cause this Section to be removed from the Administrative Code.
(Added by Ord. 37-24, File No. 240015, App. 2/29/2024, Eff. 3/31/2024)
(Former Sec. 21A.4 added by Ord. 83-00, File No. 000392, App. 5/12/2000; repealed by Ord. 171-03. File No. 030422, App. 7/3/2003)