Special Notice / Hearing: None__
Vote Required: Majority
To: Honorable Board of Supervisors
From: Colleen Chawla, Chief, San Mateo County Health
Chester J. Kunnappilly, MD, Chief Executive Officer, San Mateo Medical Center
Subject: Amendment to the Agreement with Voyce, Inc. for Video Interpretation Services
RECOMMENDATION:
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Adopt a resolution authorizing an amendment to the agreement with Voyce, Inc. for video interpretation services and increasing the amount of the agreement by $4,900,000, to an amount not to exceed $9,800,000, with no changes to the term.
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BACKGROUND:
In February 2021, San Mateo Medical Center (SMMC) conducted a Request for Proposals for a vendor to provide voice and video medical interpreting services. Voyce, Inc. (Voyce) won the bid. On June 8, 2021, the Board approved a non-exclusive agreement with Voyce for the term of July 1, 2021, through June 30, 2026, in an amount not to exceed $4,900,000. Effective October 1, 2023 through September 30, 2026, the Board also approved an alternate non-exclusive agreement with CLI to provide the same service in an amount not to exceed $ 4,955,000. The reason for seeking approval of the alternate CLI contract was to evaluate CLI’s platform and reassess whether continuing with Voyce or switching to CLI better served SMMC’s patients. The sum of the “not to exceed” amounts for the Voyce and CLI contracts - approximately $ 9.8 million - reflected SMMC’s assumptions for the total cost of interpretation services until 2026. After evaluating CLI’s platform, in the fall of 2023, SMMC’s decided to continue using Voyce as the preferred vendor for interpretation services because Voyce’s platform was easier to use with SMMC’s patients. SMMC has not meaningfully incurred any charges from CLI due to non-use of its service.
DISCUSSION:
The “not to exceed” amount in Voyce’s contract needs to be amended to reflect the total cost of providing translation services at SMMC so that there are adequate approved funds available to pay it through the contract term ending September 30, 2026. SMMC will competitively solicit services again for translation services. Pending future solicitation, shifting approved funds to Voyce’s contract is necessary for several reasons. Translation services are a requirement for Joint Commission accreditation and therefore satisfying Medicare’s conditions of participation. Translation services are also required to observe State hospital licensing requirements under “Title 22”. Finally, translation services are instrumental to observing patient rights and obtaining informed consent.
The County Attorney reviewed and approved the resolution and amendment as to form.
The resolution contains the County’s standard provisions allowing amendment of the County fiscal obligations by a maximum of $25,000 (in aggregate).
It is anticipated that Voyce will fulfill 99.5% of requests across Spanish, Cantonese, Mandarin, and Tagalog languages.
PERFORMANCE MEASURE:
|
Measure |
FY 2024-25 Estimated |
FY 2025-26 Projected |
|
Percentage of fulfilled requests across Spanish, Cantonese, Mandarin, and Tagalog languages |
99.5% |
99.5% |
EQUITY IMPACT:
Voyce’s continued medical interpreting services will positively impact equitable health outcomes by ensuring that SMMC, a public safety net hospital, can meet the community’s linguistic needs. SMMC’s patients span a wide spectrum of races, ethnicities, gender, identities, and language preferences. Within the past 18 months the largest cohorts of specialty care patients at SMMC were female (52%), Hispanic or Latino (63%), and primarily Spanish speaking (55%).
FISCAL IMPACT:
The term of the amended agreement is July 1, 2021 through June 30, 2026. The amendment increases the amount payable under the agreement by $4,900,000 to an amount not to exceed $9,800,000 for the five-year term. Funds in the amount of $2,450,000 are included in the SMMC FY 2024-25 Adopted Budget. Funds in the amount of $2,450,000 are included in the SMMC FY 2025-26 Recommended Budget. Similar arrangements will be made for future years.
Expenses at SMMC are covered by fees for services or third-party payors whenever possible. The portion of expenses for services provided to the medically indigent or to those covered by programs that do not meet the full costs of care is covered by the County’s General Fund contribution to SMMC and is within the existing annual appropriation.