Sierra County Adds $56,711 to Health Records Contract

SIERRA COUNTY — Sierra County supervisors approved a $56,711.18 contract increase September 15 to preserve access to older behavioral health patient records while staff transfer them into SmartCare, the county’s new electronic records system. The written amendment extends the county’s agreement with records provider Kings View Professional Services through August 31, 2028, and raises the contract ceiling from $23,761.26 to $80,472.44.

The county had planned to finish moving the records by September 30. In August, the behavioral health department determined that it lacked the staff time to meet that deadline.

In a follow-up email, Acting Behavioral Health Director Robert Szopa said the transfer covers 550 current and past files from the last ten years: 300 from Anasazi and 250 from Credible, the Qualifacts electronic health record software supplied through Kings View.

Each file can contain hundreds of documents, Szopa wrote, and their size poses problems for the system’s upload capacity. At the meeting, he described the transfer process: “It can only be in small files, not large files, and it has to go through each one.”

Szopa told supervisors the department planned to dedicate two workers to the migration, including a health assistant and a contractor. In his email, he added that the goal was to finish the transfer as quickly as possible so the county could avoid continuing the Kings View contract after August 31, 2028.

The county’s Behavioral Health Department provides mental health and substance use services. A county report prepared for a June board meeting describes the department’s electronic records as holding client demographic information, assessments, progress notes, and treatment plans. The information also supports billing, state reports, and reviews of the quality of care.

SmartCare combines clinical records with billing and reporting functions. Sierra joined the system through the California Mental Health Services Authority, an organization counties use to share services. In proposing the upgrade, then-Behavioral Health Director Sheryll Prinz-McMillan said it would help speed billing, make records easier for clients to access, and handle California’s complex reporting requirements.

The authority reported in an October 30, 2025, bulletin that Sierra had begun using SmartCare earlier that month. Tuesday’s discussion concerned the work still needed to bring older records into that system.

The added fees largely buy continued access to Credible: subscriptions for 35 users, processing charges, and ten hours of support. The schedule includes annual vendor increases of 5 percent. The amendment also adds an early-termination condition requiring payment of the full contract amount through the “original contract end date.”

Szopa’s memo identifies available Behavioral Health Services and Supports — General Service Delivery and 1991 Realignment allocations as the funding sources for the migration. Szopa told supervisors the money was available and the amendment would have no effect on the county’s General Fund.

1991 Realignment dedicates portions of sales tax and vehicle license fee revenue to county health, mental health, and social service programs. Behavioral Health Services and Supports is a funding category under the state’s Behavioral Health Services Act. The act is financed by a 1 percent tax on the portion of personal income above $1 million.

The SmartCare project has separate financing. The 2025 county report identified money set aside for an innovation project to pay for the upgrade and five years of support, as part of a broader effort to adapt county systems to changes in Medi-Cal.