Pennsylvania Code & Bulletin
COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA

• No statutes or acts will be found at this website.

The Pennsylvania Code website reflects the Pennsylvania Code changes effective through 53 Pa.B. 8238 (December 30, 2023).

55 Pa. Code § 4300.139. Contracting requirements.

§ 4300.139. Contracting requirements.

 (a)  Purchased services shall be by contract bearing the signature of the appropriate county authority and the authorized representative of the provider. Purchased service contracts shall, at a minimum, include the following components:

   (1)  Contracting parties and addresses.

   (2)  Effective date and term of the contract.

   (3)  Contracted amount or unit price and payment schedule.

   (4)  Provisions for cash advances.

   (5)  Provisions for contract modification and amendments.

   (6)  Termination clause.

   (7)  Provisions for the reimbursement of the county/joinder by the provider for overpayments resulting from any reason, including but not limited to errors, contract limitations, actual or audited cost adjustments or noncompliance with applicable policies and procedures.

   (8)  Prohibition against assignment of the contract without permission of the county.

   (9)  Work statement, including the service provider’s location and hours of operation.

   (10)  Provisions for budget modification or amendment.

   (11)  Provision for the procurement of fixed assets.

   (12)  Property title rights for fixed assets purchased or materials, plans or procedures developed through the agreement.

   (13)  Procurement of real estate, fixed asset and liability insurance.

   (14)  Client liability, fee collection and abatement responsibilities.

   (15)  Required reports for the county and the Department.

   (16)  Maintenance and retention of required reports, documents and accounting books.

   (17)  Audit rights on the records and inspection rights of performance by the county and the Department.

   (18)  Copyright and publication rights of the funding source.

   (19)  Client confidentiality and rights of privacy.

   (20)  Restrictions on human experimentation.

   (21)  Definition of the units of service to be provided.

   (22)  A budget and fiscal statement of how the fees or costs were determined, including the identification of the revenues and accounting unit or entity for the purpose of §  4300.108 (relating to retained revenue).

   (23)  A provision that the parties to the contract will not discriminate against an employe, client or other person on account of race, color, sex, religious creed, National origin, age or handicap.

   (24)  A listing of board members.

 (b)  Contract negotiations shall be based upon full disclosure by the service provider of information and data concerning budgets, position classification and salary schedules, rates of occupancy or utilization, percent of staff time in direct service, surpluses and deficits from prior years or previous contract periods, audited financial statements and unit cost information and other information that is reasonably available and related to financial reimbursement.

 (c)  A signed contract becomes the authorization for the expenditure of funds for services identified by the agreement. County mental health and intellectual disability funds cannot be expended for provider expenses until a contract exists. For licensed inpatient and authorized partial hospital providers, an authorization for service form may be used, in lieu of a contract, to purchase services.

 (d)  Counties shall establish a procedure to provide contract agencies with an opportunity to be heard by the county mental health and intellectual disability board, or a committee thereof, regarding contract disputes arising under this chapter. The purpose shall be for the board to hear the issues and arguments involved in the dispute and develop recommendations to the appropriate county authority.

 (e)  A county/joinder may purchase services from a facility within the jurisdiction of another county program. The services shall be purchased by written contract with the provider. If the provider is a program-funded facility, the payments received for the services shall be reported as income and subtracted from the gross expenses billed to the county/joinder of which it is part.

 (f)  Contracts with out-of-State providers shall have the prior approval of the appropriate program deputy.

 (g)  Contracts between county programs and providers of vocational rehabilitation or habilitation services may exclude costs and revenues of production-related activities. The contracts shall clearly identify the program component or service being purchased by the county program and establish the separate accounting entities for the purpose of determining reimbursement. If there is a proper accounting and matching of revenues and expenses for an entity, revenues from production activities not reimbursed by the county program need not be applied to reduce eligible rehabilitation or habilitation costs. Shared costs shall be allocated according to a methodology which results in a fair and equitable distribution of costs to benefiting services. A complete file including the cost allocation plan and supporting documentation for shared costs shall be maintained.

Authority

   The provisions of this §  4300.139 amended under sections 201(2) and (8) and 202 of the Mental Health and Intellectual Disability Act of 1966 (50 P.S. § §  4201(2) and (8) and 4202).

Source

   The provisions of this §  4300.139 amended June 17, 2016, effective June 18, 2016, 46 Pa.B. 3177. Immediately preceding text appears at serial pages (213216) to (213218).

Cross References

   This section cited in 55 Pa. Code §  4300.145 (relating to bidding and procurement).



No part of the information on this site may be reproduced for profit or sold for profit.


This material has been drawn directly from the official Pennsylvania Code full text database. Due to the limitations of HTML or differences in display capabilities of different browsers, this version may differ slightly from the official printed version.