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: Issuance of Purchase Orders to Priority Healthcare DBA Curascript Specialty for Intrauterine and Implantable Prescription Devices
RECOMMENDATION:
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Adopt a resolution authorizing the County Purchasing Agent to issue purchase orders to Priority Healthcare DBA Curascript to provide intrauterine, implantable prescription devices and also medication used to treat opioid use disorder, for the term of July 1, 2024 through June 30, 2025, in an amount not to exceed $775,000.
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BACKGROUND:
As part of San Mateo County’s commitment to women’s health, San Mateo Medical Center (SMMC) offers a variety of intrauterine and implantable prescription devices that provide birth control for its patients. This Board previously authorized the County Purchasing Agent on January 28, 2025 to issue purchase orders to Priority Healthcare DBA Curascript (Curascript) to provide intrauterine and implantable prescription devices. Curascript also manufactures Sublocade for opioid use disorder.
DISCUSSION:
SMMC historically purchased Sublocade via purchase order from Curascript until the end of the fiscal year ending in June 2024 under the terms of the County’s group purchasing contract with Vizient. At the beginning of this current fiscal year in July 2025 Sublocade was removed from the Vizient GPO agreement. However, orders for Sublocade continued during the current fiscal year to meet patient needs. The removal of Sublocade from the Vizient GPO contract triggered County controls preventing direct payment for those orders in the absence of a renewed contract.
SMMC is requesting this Board to temporarily waive the competitive solicitation for Sublocade because doing so is in the County’s best interest. First, Sublocade is currently being provisioned and prescribed by other County departments, including Correctional Health. It is foreseeable that Correctional Health patients will seek treatment at SMMC. Second, it is medically important to continue providing this medication to patients without interruption. Finally, A temporary waiver of competitive procurement will also allow time to coordinate internally and consider a potential competitive solicitation spanning multiple County departments due to opioid use disorder’s touchpoints on different departments and their missions.
County Attorney has reviewed and approved the resolution as to form.
It is anticipated that patients who use Sublocade are >40% more likely to experience opioid-free weeks than patients without Sublocade during treatment.
PERFORMANCE MEASURE:
|
Measure |
FY 2024-25 Estimated |
FY 2025-26 Projected |
|
Percentage of the likelihood of patients who use Sublocade to experience opioid-free weeks than patients without Sublocade during treatment |
>40% |
>40% |
EQUITY IMPACT:
SMMC is committed to providing for struggling patients with opioid use disorder. To ensure equitable access, it is crucial to provide this medication to SMMC’s patients. This method could improve patient outcomes, reduce relapse risk, lower readmissions, and contribute to broader community efforts to combat the opioid epidemic. SMMC’s patients span a wide spectrum of races, ethnicities, gender, and gender-identities. Within the past 18 months, the largest cohorts of specialty care patients at SMMC were female (53%), Hispanic or Latino (57%), and primarily Spanish-speaking (54%).
FISCAL IMPACT:
The term of the agreement is July 1, 2024 through June 30, 2025. The amount of the agreement is not to exceed $775,000 for the three-year term. Funds in the amount of $775,000 are included in the SMMC FY 2024-25 Adopted Budget.
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.