In the Spring of 2007, the DMH entered into an inter-agency agreement with the California Office of State Audits and Evaluations (OSAE) to evaluate the Department’s Specialty Mental Health claims payment system and make recommendations for improvements.

In September 2007, the OSAE determined that it was necessary for a review of the entire Short-Doyle/Medi-Cal system to make useful recommendations, which required OSAE to include the Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) claims payment processes and practices.

On December 31, 2007, the OSAE released their report, “Review of Claims Processes for the California Department of Mental Health’s Short-Doyle/Medi-Cal Programs .”

The County-State Claims Payment Processing Improvement Task Force was established to create a response and implementation plan for OSAE’s recommendations. The Task Force allows collaboration among DMH, DHCS, the California Mental Health Directors Association (CMHDA), APS Healthcare (DMH’s data/evaluation consultants), and individual counties. DMH, with the help of the Task Force, has developed a Claims Corrective Action Plan (October 17, 2008) . This plan responds to each of OSAE’s recommendations included in their review.