Children and Youth Behavioral and Mental Health Telehealth Services

Purpose and Background The purpose of this RFP is to solicit proposals for behavioral or mental health telehealth services for children and youth (Client) and their legal guardian (Guardian) in the State of Ohio by an approved referral reference.The State of Ohio, Department of Children and Youth (Agency) is a new agency created in the current State of Ohio State Fiscal Year 2024-2025 budget in Amended House Bill 33 of 135th General Assembly.  The new Agency’s purpose is to provide supportive services to Clients from birth to eighteen years of age and Guardians.  At the end of 2023, the Agency entered into a contract with a vendor for a short-term solution to provide behavioral health services to a specific population of Clients and Guardians in emergency situations.  This current contract is aimed at emergent needs of Clients and Guardians that have or had mental and behavioral health issues.  The Agency is seeking to provide a referral mechanism for its partners such as county childcare providers, county public children’s service agencies, and childhood mental health consultants in Ohio. The referrals will be based on guidance from the Agency, and the Agency will manage the number of referrals each provider receives. Ohio is striving to create a consistent approach to providing behavioral and mental health services to children and legal guardians in Ohio.  This initiative is aimed at stabilizing the initial crisis situation for a short-term duration and will handle emergent needs only. The long-term services will be managed and provided by Medicaid or private insurance.   Scope of Work Overview An overview of the Work is provided below.  The scope of work and requirements are provided in greater detail within Part 1, Scope of Work.The Agency is seeking a Contractor that can provide telephonic and website solutions that can link Clients, Guardians, and Agency partners to services that can provide licensed counselors or other mental health and/or behavioral health specialists on a 24/7 basis.  The Contractor must provide behavioral and mental health telehealth services to referred Clients and Guardians via telephone or video conference call.  There will be no more than 12 sessions offered to stabilize the emergent situation.  After the emergent situation, the Client will be advised to work with their health insurance provider and/or Medicaid for continued services or seek other services.  The Contractor will only accept referrals from the Agency and its assignees only.   Objectives The State has the following objectives that it wants this Work to fulfill, and it will be the Contractor’s obligation to ensure that the personnel the Contractor provides are qualified to perform their portions of the Work:The services will provide mental health and behavioral health services to the target population of children birth through 18 and the legal guardians of the children birth through 18.  The service will handle crisis and emergent mental and behavioral health situations for the target population. The service will be available 24/7, 365 days a year. The care will be limited by number of sessions allowed under the Contract.  The service is only open to children and families that live within the state of Ohio.  The service will be referral based and will not be provided as an open line or to all Ohioans. The Contractor is expected to provide a process where referrals can be monitored. The long-term services will be managed and provided by Medicaid or private insurance and the Contractor is responsible for referring the Clients and Guardians to an appropriate provider for the long-term solution.