How to Document Time Spent on CARE Act Activities

BHIN 24-015 provides a list of activities, and their definitions, that are associated with the CARE Act initiative that can be reimbursed. These include: 

1. Court Hearing Time 
2. Court Report 
3. Outreach and Engagement 
4. Notice 
5. Data Reporting 

One activity not included in the BHIN is CARE Act Implementation activities, such as meetings with stakeholders, creation of policies and procedures, and development time spent on forms and record tracking methods. CalMHSA feels it’s important for BHPs to keep track of this activity as well, even if it isn’t reimbursable.   

CalMHSA has created procedure codes and calendar event types to track these 6 activities in SmartCare (5 from the BHIN and 1 for implementation activities). Service Notes should be used for activities related directly to CARE Act clients while calendar events should be used for general activities that aren’t tied to a specific client, such as gathering and submitting state reporting files.   

Service notes include the ability to account for travel time and documentation time associated with the service. Users should always enter any travel and documentation time in these fields, even if they are not reimbursable. This provides BHP leadership with important service data. DHCS has indicated that travel time is reimbursable for Outreach and Engagement activities with regards to the CARE Act, so any travel time entered in the service for this activity will be included in the reimbursable time.  

CARE Act pilot counties indicated that they needed to be able to track specific actions at different types of CARE Act hearings, such as whether the client was present, if the judge made a determination, etc. CalMHSA therefore created custom CARE Act procedure codes for each hearing type along with custom progress notes for to help track data relevant to each type of hearing.  

Below is a list of the procedure codes and calendar event types that CalMHSA has created for CARE Act activity tracking and reimbursement. Please note that none of these procedure codes are considered “billable” codes, as the reimbursement process for CARE Act is not the same as claiming to Medi-Cal.  

1. Procedure Codes
   1. CARE Act – Hearing Time Activity (CARE Act Narrative Note) 
   2. CARE Act – 1 Year Status Reviewing Hearing (CARE Act 1 Year Status Review Hearing Note) 
   3. CARE Act – CARE Plan Review Hearing (CARE Act Plan Review Hearing Note) 
   4. CARE Act – Case Management Hearing (CARE Act Case Management Hearing Note) 
   5. CARE Act – Evaluation Review Hearing (CARE Act Evaluation Review Hearing Note) 
   6. CARE Act – Graduation Hearing (CARE Act Graduation Hearing Note) 
   7. CARE Act – Hearing on Deferred Ruling (CARE Act Hearing on Deferred Ruling Note) 
   8. CARE Act – Hearing on the Merits (CARE Act Initial Hearing Note) 
   9. CARE Act – Initial Hearing (CARE Act Initial Hearing Note) 
   10. CARE Act – Progress Review Hearing (CARE Act Progress/Status Review Hearing Note) 
   11. CARE Act – Status Review Hearing (CARE Act Progress/Status Review Hearing Note) 
   12. CARE Act – Court Report Activity (CARE Act Narrative Note) 
   13. CARE Act – Outreach and Engagement (CARE Act Narrative Note) 
   14. CARE Act – Notice Activity (CARE Act Narrative Note) 
   15. CARE Act – Data Reporting (CARE Act Narrative Note) 
2. Calendar Event Types
   1. CARE Act- Data Reporting
   2. CARE Act Implementation