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Q&A
Council Member Brannan questions DOHMH on contract management and payment processes
0:28:21
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Council Member Justin Brannan questions DOHMH officials about the management of health and mental health contracts, focusing on payment delays and contract approval processes. Acting Commissioner Michelle Morse and CFO Aaron Anderson respond, detailing efforts to improve payment timelines and explaining the complexities of contract registration and reimbursement.
- DOHMH reports an average 18-day cycle time for human service invoices, a 50% improvement from the previous year.
- Discussion reveals that contract registration delays can significantly impact provider reimbursement timelines.
- The responsibility for contracting and payments is spread across multiple areas within DOHMH, making it difficult to provide a single average timeframe for full reimbursement.
Justin Brannan
0:28:21
Last line of questioning for me.
0:28:22
It somewhat dovetails with what we were just talking about with regard to the overall contract budget.
0:28:29
FY '26, the overall DOHMH contract budget is nearly $1,300,000,000 The department manages contracts for health and mental health providers.
0:28:39
As you know, this is a huge issue that we continue to hear from many providers about the insane delays that they face waiting to get paid or waiting to have their contracts approved at the agency level.
0:28:51
Who from DOHMH or PHS will continue to be responsible for managing health and mental health contracts in FY '20 '6?
Michelle Morse
0:29:02
Thank you for that question Chair.
0:29:04
We have been really focusing on this issue because we know that particularly in this context with all kinds of threats to funding for nonprofits that we have to be even more diligent about making sure all of our contractors are paid in a timely way.
0:29:20
We have recently, in partnership with Mox, named a chief nonprofit officer.
0:29:26
And that person is one of the many contact people who can help to problem solve when it comes to timeliness of payment, particularly for human service providers.
0:29:36
And then I'd like to pass to our Chief Financial Officer to share a little bit more about our activities for timely payment of contractors.
Aaron Anderson
0:29:44
Thanks Doctor.
0:29:45
Morris.
0:29:46
Just to share a little bit, I mean, at the health department, we implemented a targeted effort to reduce the backlog of invoices, which we know is a problem, and improve invoice processing times.
0:29:56
As a result, our average cycle time for human service invoices in Passport decreased to eighteen days for the month of April 2025, which is almost a 50% improvement compared to last May.
0:30:08
In addition, we are happy to report that there's about 500 pending human service invoices in Passport.
0:30:14
Nearly all of them are less than fifteen days, which is half of the required thirty day prompt payment timeline.
Justin Brannan
0:30:22
So on average it takes about eighteen days to clear and register a contract?
Aaron Anderson
0:30:27
Well, I'm talking about payments in this case.
Justin Brannan
0:30:29
Okay.
0:30:29
Let's talk about registration.
Aaron Anderson
0:30:32
So we have let's see.
0:30:39
I don't know if I have the timelines for contract registration, but the vast majority of ours are absolutely registered on time.
0:30:47
And there are some that are not able to be, but it's for technical reasons that are often outside of our control.
0:30:53
But we work very closely with MOCs and the mayor's office of nonprofit services.
Justin Brannan
0:30:56
But how do delays in contract registration impact how quickly a provider can be reimbursed?
Aaron Anderson
0:31:03
I mean, right.
0:31:04
They cannot invoice and cannot get paid until a contract's registered.
0:31:07
So that is a very real issue.
Justin Brannan
0:31:09
How many people do you have working in that division?
Aaron Anderson
0:31:13
So the responsibility for both contracting and for payments is actually spread across multiple areas.
0:31:19
So in many cases on the payment side, it's not like there's a single per like that's not the only thing a person does.
0:31:25
And so we have a lot of programmatic folks across the agency who oversee contracts on the programmatic side, also are responsible for payments.
0:31:32
We have staff in finance who do payments.
0:31:35
So there's not a set number of people who only do that.
0:31:39
It's shared responsibility really across the agency.
Justin Brannan
0:31:41
So do you have a sense of on average soup to nuts how long it takes providers to be fully reimbursed for their contracts?
Aaron Anderson
0:31:48
I think it really varies.
0:31:50
I mean there are so many factors that relate to payments.
0:31:53
I mean invoicing.
0:31:54
There are technical issues.
0:31:56
There are provider support issues.
0:31:58
I think it's hard to give an average.
0:32:00
I think it varies considerably across.
Justin Brannan
0:32:02
Okay.
0:32:03
I'm gonna turn it over to Shirley.
0:32:04
Thank you.