Clarion County has joined a consortium of 22 other counties that could save money on behavioral health costs.
Behavioral Health Alliance for Rural Pennsylvania (BHARP) is a consortium of 23 counties that has a contract for managing Medicaid insurance.
“In 2006, the state held the contract for the managed care. Now, the state is allowing BHARP to handle the contract,” said Nancy Jeannerat, administrator for the county’s Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities and Early Intervention.
“Basically, those 23 counties will have more control over their Medicaid organizations and services,” Jeannerat said. “We will be recouping some of the administrative costs because we will collectively hold the contract.
“It is a huge change. It is very much to the benefit of the 23 counties. It puts us one step closer to monitoring and oversight activities and administrative reimbursements. The agreement is for behavioral health only.”
According to BHARP’s website, its mission is to “create and maintain balanced representation from the mental health and SCA (single county authority) administrators from all 23 counties in the North Central Region.”