Eligibility: The mission of the San Francisco Mental Health Plan is to provide eligible persons of San Francisco with access to a high quality, effective, cost-efficient system of mental health care that is community based, culturally competent and consumer guided. With this mission in mind, the SF Mental Health Plan must effectively manage scare inpatient, residential, and other costly resources, while providing a higher level of access to a larger cover population.

All San Francisco Medi-Cal beneficiaries are eligible for membership in the SF Mental Health Plan. In addition, the Mental Health Plan recognizes the public mental health system's role as a safety net for San Francisco residents who do not possess insurance coverage or the personal means adequate to cover the cost of mental health care. San Francisco has opted to provide a single Mental Health Plan with comparable services for Medi-Cal beneficiaries and indigent San Francisco residents.

Eligibility Requirements: The following criteria pertains to eligibility for services within the County Mental Health System outpatient systems.

• Residents of San Francisco, and
• Have San Francisco Medi-Cal, or Medi-Cal with Medicare, or Medicare only.
• They are also eligible if they are indigent (for example, receiving General Assistance) or under insured.

Authorization Requirements Community/Outpatient Service

Overview:

All community mental health services need an authorization prior to providing the service. Authorization for non-emergency services is required in order for the provider to be paid. Any individual: a provider, client or another third party may request authorization for services.

Services that include a housing component – because of the extraordinarily tight housing market in San Francisco and limited resources -- can have significant waiting lists. Access to these services are coordinated through a central county committee, known simply as The Bed Committee.

Requirements:

Any individual in need of mental health services may simply call either of the telephone numbers below. Individuals may also request services directly from any provider. The provider in turn will request authorization from Central Access or one of the Integrated Service Centers.

Services that are provided for crisis intervention or acute hospitalization do not require prior authorization.