124174.5.
The department shall establish a grant program within the School-Based Health Center Support Program to provide technical assistance, and funding for the expansion, renovation, and retrofitting of existing school-based health centers, and the development of new school-based health centers, in accordance with the following procedures and requirements:(a) A school-based health center receiving grant funds pursuant to this section shall meet or have a plan to meet the following requirements:
(1) Provide primary medical care. The health center may also provide other health care services, including
behavioral health, dental care, health education, and related services in response to community needs.
(2) Strive to provide a comprehensive and integrated set of other health care services, provided or supervised by licensed or credentialed professionals, which may include the following:
(A) Physical examinations, immunizations, and other preventive medical services.
(B) Diagnosis and treatment of minor injuries and acute medical conditions.
(C) Management of chronic medical conditions.
(D) Basic laboratory tests.
(E) Referrals to and followup for specialty care.
(F) Reproductive health services.
(G) Nutrition services.
(H) Mental health services provided or supervised by an appropriately licensed or credentialed mental health professional may include: assessments, crisis intervention, counseling, treatment, and referral to a continuum of services including emergency psychiatric care, community support programs, inpatient care, and outpatient programs. School-based health centers providing mental health services as specified in this section shall consult with the local county mental health department for collaboration in planning and service delivery.
(I) Substance use disorder services, including education, prevention, screening, early interventions, counseling, and referral to treatment services.
(J) Oral health services that may include preventive services, basic restorative services, and referral to specialty services.
(3) Strive to address the population health of the entire school campus by focusing on prevention services, including, but not limited to, group and classroom education, schoolwide prevention programs, and community outreach strategies within the school’s Multi-Tiered System of Support or other similar framework employed by the local educational agency.
(4) Strive to provide integrated and individualized support for students and families
and to act as a partner with the student or family to ensure that health, social, or behavioral challenges are addressed.
(5) Strive to integrate the school-based health center in the school or local educational agency’s community school model, if applicable.
(6) Work in partnership with the school nurse, if one is employed by the local educational agency, to provide individual and family health education; school or districtwide health promotion; first aid and administration of medications; facilitation of student enrollment in health insurance programs; screening of students to identify the need for physical, mental health, and oral health services; referral and linkage to services not offered onsite; public health and disease surveillance; and emergency response procedures.
A school-based health center may receive grant funding pursuant to this section if the local educational agency does not employ a school nurse. However, it is not the intent of the Legislature that a school-based health center serve as a substitute for a school nurse employed by a local educational agency.
(7) Have a written contract or memorandum of understanding between the local educational agency and the health care provider or any other community providers that ensures coordination of services, ensures confidentiality and privacy of health information consistent with applicable federal and state laws, and integration of services into the school environment.
(8) Serve all registered students in the school regardless of ability to pay.
(9) Be open during all normal school hours, or on a more limited basis if resources are not available, or on a more expansive basis if dictated by community needs and resources are available.
(10) Establish protocols for referring students to outside services when the school-based health center is closed.
(11) Facilitate transportation between the school and the health center if the health center is not located on school or school district property.
(b) Beginning on or before January 1, 2025, planning grants shall be available in amounts between fifty thousand dollars ($50,000) and one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000), inclusive, for up to a 24-month period to be used for the costs associated with assessing
the need for a school-based health center in a particular community or area, and developing the partnerships necessary for the operation of a school-based health center in that community or area. Applicants for planning grants shall be required to have a letter of interest from a local educational agency if the applicant is not a local educational agency. Grantees provided funding pursuant to this subdivision shall be required to do all of the following:
(1) Seek input from students, parents, school nurses, school staff and administration, local health providers, and if applicable, special population groups, on community health needs, barriers to health care and the need for a school-based health center.
(2) Collect data on the school and community to estimate the percentage of
students that lack health insurance and the percentage that are eligible for Medi-Cal or private health care coverage benefits, or other public programs providing free or low-cost health services.
(3) Assess capacity and interest among health care providers in the community to provide services in a school-based health center.
(4) Assess the need for specific cultural or linguistic services or both.
(c) Beginning on or before January 1, 2025, facilities and startup grants shall be available in amounts between three hundred thousand dollars ($300,000) and eight hundred fifty thousand dollars ($850,000), inclusive, for a three-year period for the purpose of establishing a school-based health center.
Grant funds may be used to cover a portion or all of the costs associated with designing, retrofitting, renovating, constructing, or buying a facility or mobile health unit, for medical equipment and supplies for a school-based health center, or for personnel costs at a school-based health center. Preference will be given to proposals that include a plan for cost sharing among local educational agencies, health providers, and community organizations or that identify match funding for facilities construction and renovation costs. Preference will be given to proposals that include plans to provide integrated primary medical care and behavioral health services. Applicants for facilities and startup grants offered pursuant to this subdivision shall be required to meet the following criteria:
(1) Have completed a community assessment determining
the need for a school-based health center.
(2) Have a contract or memorandum of understanding between the local educational agency and the health care provider, if other than the local educational agency, and any other provider agencies describing the relationship between the local educational agency and the school-based health center.
(3) Have a mechanism, described in writing, to coordinate services to individual students among school and school-based health center staff while maintaining confidentiality and privacy of health information consistent with applicable state and federal laws.
(4) Have a written description of how the school-based health center will participate in the following:
(A) School and districtwide health promotion, coordinated school health, health education in the classroom or on campus, program/activities that address nutrition, fitness, or other important public health issues, or promotion of policies that create a healthy school environment.
(B) Outreach and enrollment of students in health insurance programs.
(C) Public health prevention, surveillance, and emergency response for the school population.
(5) Have the ability to provide the linguistic or cultural services needed by the community. If the school-based health center is not yet able to provide these services due to resource limitations, the school-based
health center shall engage in an ongoing assessment of its capacity to provide these services.
(6) Have a plan for maximizing available third-party reimbursement revenue streams.
(d) Beginning on or before January 1, 2025, expansion grants shall be available in amounts between one hundred fifty thousand dollars ($150,000) and three hundred thousand dollars ($300,000), inclusive, for up to a three-year period for the purpose of renovating and improving an existing school-based health center, enhancing and expanding programming at a fully operational school-based health center, including adding physical health, oral health, or behavioral health services, or supporting operations at a fully operational school-based health center. Preference will be given to proposals that increase
access to comprehensive health care services at the school-based health center by adding staff or services or expanding the facility. Applicants for expansion grants offered pursuant to this subdivision shall be required to meet all of the criteria described in subdivision (c), in addition to all of the following criteria:
(1) The applicant shall be eligible to become or already be an approved Medi-Cal provider.
(2) The applicant shall have ability and procedures in place for billing public insurance programs, managed care health plans, or county mental health plans.
(3) The applicant shall develop a plan to sustain expanded services at the school-based health center after the grant period.
(e) Beginning on or before January 1, 2025, sustainability grants shall be available in amounts between one hundred fifty thousand dollars ($150,000) and three hundred thousand dollars ($300,000), inclusive, per year ongoing for the purpose of operating a school health center. Applicants for sustainability grants offered pursuant to this subdivision shall be required to meet all of the criteria described in subdivision (c), in addition to all of the following criteria:
(1) The applicant shall be eligible to become or already be an approved Medi-Cal provider.
(2) The applicant shall have ability and procedures in place for billing public insurance programs, managed care health plans, or county mental health plans.
(3) The applicant shall seek reimbursement and have procedures in place for billing public and private insurance that covers students at the school health center.
(f) The department shall award technical assistance grants through a competitive bidding process to qualified contractors to support grantees receiving grants under subdivisions (b), (c), (d), and (e). A qualified contractor means a vendor with demonstrated capacity in all aspects of planning, facilities development, startup, and operation of a school-based health center.
(g) The department, in collaboration with the Office of School-Based Health Programs in the State Department of Education, shall also develop a request for proposal (RFP) process for
collecting information on applicants, and determining which proposals shall receive grant funding. The department shall give preference for grant funding to school-based health centers serving any of the following:
(1) Areas designated as federally medically underserved areas or with medically underserved populations or areas with a shortage of health professionals.
(2) Areas experiencing health disparities in child and adolescent access to primary care, behavioral health, preventative health, or oral health services.
(3) Schools in which more than 55 percent of pupils serviced are unduplicated pupils, as defined in Section 42238.02 of the Education Code.
(h) Moneys shall be allocated to the department annually for evaluation to be conducted by an outside evaluator that is selected through a competitive bidding process. The evaluation shall document the number of grantees that establish and sustain
school-based health centers, and describe the challenges and lessons learned in creating successful school-based health centers. The evaluator shall use data collected pursuant to Section 124174.3, if it is available, and work in collaboration with the School-Based Health Center Support Program. The department shall post the evaluation on its internet website.
(i) Recipients of grants given pursuant to this section shall, when contracting for services with the grant moneys, give preference to schools and other entities that are not law enforcement entities.
(j) This section shall be implemented only to the extent that funds are appropriated to the department in the annual Budget Act or other statute for implementation
of this article.