SAMHSA222s Weekly Financing News Pulse: State and Local Edition
January 5, 2011 1/5/2011
1
SAMHSA222s Weekly Financing News Pulse: State and Local Edition
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SAMHSA222s Weekly Financing News Pulse: State and Local Edition
January 5, 2011 1/5/2011
2
Around the States: State and Local Behavioral Health
Financing New
s Connecticut
SustiNet Board Approves Final Recommendations for State Health Reform
: On December 29, the
SustiNet Health Partnership Board of Directors
approved final recommendations to the Connecticut
Legislature
for implementing SustiNet, a program establi
shed under a July 2009 law designed to expand
access to health care while slow
ing
cost growth.
The proposal includes the establishment of a new
health plan
for state residents, payment and service delivery reform, and policies designed to reduce
racial an
d ethnic
disparities in health
care.
State officials say the recommendations
will provide
coverage to 400,000 currently uninsured individuals and save $250,000 annually beginning in 2014.
The
board will present
the
recommendations
to
the legislature
on
January 7 ( New Haven Advocate, 1/3 ; SustiNet, 12/29 ; Public News Service, 12/31 ).
Florida
Governor
Plans to
Eliminate
State Office of Drug Control
:
On December 17, then Governor
-
elect
Rick
Scott
(R) announced that he intends to
save nearly $500,000 by eliminat
ing
all four full
-time employees
in the Florida Governor222s Office of Drug Control Policy
,
turning
the office222s responsibilities
over
to the
Florida Departments of Health
(DOH) and
Law Enforcement
. Established in 1999, the office has
conducte
d youth
substance use
surveys
, coordinated
multi
-agency
substance abuse programming
and
policy, and advised the governor on seaport security
to combat drug smuggling. In addition, the office
secured grant funding and donations for the state222s prescription
drug monitoring program (PDMP) ( The Miami Herald, 12/22 ).
76-Bed Inpat
ient Behavioral Health Facility Opening in Lee County
: On December 31, Park Royal
Psychiatric Hospital officials issued
$23 million in bonds to finance the construction of a 76
-bed inpatient
behavioral health facility in Lee County, slated to focus on senior care. Park Royal officials anticipate
that
the co
unty
will
approve
the facility within 60 days
and
that construction will begin in February 2011
for a February 2012 opening
( Lehigh Acres Citizen, 1/2 ).
Georgia
Hospital Settles DOJ Medicaid Claims Dispute for
$13.9 Million
: John D
.
Archbold Memorial Hospital
Inc. has paid
the federal government $13.9 million to settle allegations that the hospital filled false
Medicaid claims
. A whistle-blower suit alleged that the hospital falsely represented itself as a public
hospital
to obtain higher reimbursements from the state222s Medicaid program ( DOTmed
News, 12/27 ).
Iowa
Mental Health Center of North Iowa to Stop Accepting Franklin County Patients
: On February 1, the
non-profit Mental Health Center of North Iowa (MHCNI) will no longer accept patients from Franklin
County, regardless of their ability to pay for services. The MHCNI board enters into contracts with
counties, charging them an annual f
ee for each
county
resident that the center serves. Citing increasing
costs, Franklin County terminated its contract with the center on November 1 and proposed a fee
-for-
service (FFS) payment arrangement
. H
owever, the MHCNI Board rejected Franklin County
222s proposal.
SAMHSA222s Weekly Financing News Pulse: State and Local Edition
January 5, 2011 1/5/2011
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Franklin County has entered into FFS contracts with three other mental health provider organizations to
ensure residents222
access to mental health services. Cerro Gordo, Floyd, Hancock, Mitchell, Winnebago,
and Worth counties remain
members o
f the Mental Health Center of North Iowa ( Globe Gazette, 12/25 ).
Illinois
Geneva Mental Health Board Awards $139,000 for Behavioral Health
Treatment:
The Geneva Mental
Health Board has awarded $139,000 to 14
behavioral health
agencies
. Raised through the City of
Geneva222s tax levy, the funds will support
mental health, substance abuse, and developmental disability
treatment ( Chicago Tribune, 12/22 ).
Champaign County Beginning Mental Health Court
:
During
the week ending January 8, Champaign
County will begin a mental health court offerin
g
treatment as an alternative to incarceration for
offenders with mental illnesses. The Illinois Disciples Foundation provided a $5,000 grant to the
Champaign County
chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness
(NAMI) to plan the court, which
will s
erve offenders with Axis I disorders, as outlined in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental
Disorders, Fourth Edition
(DSM-IV)
( The News
-
Gazette, 1/20 ).
Cook County Health &
Hospital System Planning 21 Percent County Funding Cut
: On December 22,
Cook County Hea
lth
&
Hospital System officials announced that the system, which receives a portion of
its funding from the county,
will
reduce
its
county
expenditures
by 21 percent in the upcoming fiscal
year.
Using layoffs and reorganization, system officials say they
will reduce spending by $83 million
under the plan
.
The plan comes after t
he
Cook County Board of Commissioners
requested that all
agencies
cut
spending
by 21 percent
to address a deficit
.
The
board must approve a spending plan for
the
coming
fiscal year
by February 28 ( Chicago Sun-Times, 12/22 ).
Indiana
Tippecanoe County
Ends
Drug Court
: Citing a lack of program participants and grant funding, the
Tippecanoe County Adult Drug Court ended on December 28. The county222s forensic diversion program
for nonviolent offenders with co
-occurring disorders is the only treatment alternative remaining in
Tippecanoe County ( Journal and Courier, 12/25 ).
Kansas
Topeka Community Foundation Awards $17,000 in Mental Health Grants
: As part of $260,000 in 2010
incentive-based grants, the Topeka Community Foundation awarded $17,000 in mental health
programming grants. The mental health grant recipients include the National Alliance on Mental Illness
(NAMI) Kansas and Valeo Behavioral Health Care ( WIBW, 12/27 ).
Maine
Mental Health Settlement
Compliance Monitor Requests $5.6 Million for Mental Health Services: To
meet the state222s obligations under the Augusta Mental Health Institute (AMHI) consent
decree, a
compliance monitor is requesting that the state increase the Maine Department of Health and Human
Services222
mental health services funding
by $5.6 million
over
the current and
coming
biennium
. Since
SAMHSA222s Weekly Financing News Pulse: State and Local Edition
January 5, 2011 1/5/2011
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1990, Maine has operated under the terms of a
consent decree,
resulting from
a lawsuit over conditions
at the AMHI. Governor Paul LePage
(R)
says he will consider the funding request when preparing
his
budget
s
for the current and upcoming biennia
( The Portland Press Herald, 1/3 ).
Maine DEA Awards $160,000 to Reduce Prescription Drug Abuse
: The Maine Drug Enforcement
Agency
(M
DEA) has awarde
d $160,000 to four prescription drug abuse prevention
programs
using funds
forfeited in a 2004 federal drug
-smuggling case in which the M
DEA participated
. The largest awards
went to the Kennebec County Sheriff222s Department222s prescription drug take-back pr
ogram and the
People222s Regional Opportunity Program222s project to reduce prescription drug abuse in western
Cumberland County. York Hospital and the Maine Judicial Branch also received funding for prescription
drug abuse prevention programming ( AP via NECN, 12/25 ).
Update: Report Offers Suggestions for Implementing National Health Reform in Maine: On December
17, the
Maine Advisory Committee on Health Systems Development
released a final report
outlining
steps that
Maine should take to implement the national health care reform law. The report suggests
that
the law will make subsidized health coverage available to
500,000 Mainers. The authors offer
recommendations to the governor and the
Maine Legislature, including advice on transitioning
individuals from Maine222s Dirigo Health
program to Medicaid and health
coverage available through
health reform222s insurance exchanges ( CivSource, 1/4 ).
Massachusetts
Legislature Approves $330 Supplemental Budget, Finance
s
Medicaid Costs
: On December 30, the
Massachusetts Legislature
approved a $330 million supplemental spending bill, primarily aimed at
covering higher
-than
-anticipated Medicaid costs. Over $264 million, or more than 80 percent
of the bill,
will go to finance
Medicaid
expenses
. The bill now goes before Governor Deval Patrick
(D)
( AP via Boston Herald, 12/30 ).
Regulations Take Effect
Strengthening
PDMP: On
January 1
, Massachusetts222 prescription drug
monitoring program (PDMP) expanded
its
scope. Under
the new
regulations, the PDMP will be updated
weekly and
include
data
on
all Schedule I through
V
drugs
. The PDMP previously collected data
only
on
Schedule I
and Schedule
II drugs
( The Boston Globe, 1/
1 ).
Superior Court Rejects Suit Alleging Inadequate State Medicaid Reimbursements
: On December 21,
Massachusetts Superior Court Judge Judith Fabricant
rejected
a
Boston Medical Center suit
, which
alleged
that
the state violated a law requiring adequate reimbursement for providers serving Medicaid
and Medicare patients. Boston Medical Center officials claimed that the state222s low Medicaid
reimbursement rates
coupled with the requirement that the center serve all patients had a s
ignificant
negative impact
on the hospital
222s finances. The court ruled that the issue
should
be
addressed in the
political branches of the government
,
rather than the judiciary. The court also rejected a similar suit
filed
by six other
hospitals ( Boston Herald, 12/22 ).
SAMHSA222s Weekly Financing News Pulse: State and Local Edition
January 5, 2011 1/5/2011
5
Minnesota
Miller-Dwan Foundation to Raise $5 Million for Behavioral Health Clinic Expansion
: The Miller
-Dwan
Foundation is raising $5 million
to expand
the Miller Dwan Behavioral Health Clinic, allowing the facility
to
serve an additional 65 children, teens, and young adults. The foundation has already raised $3.5
million. Foundation officials hope to begin construction in the summer of 2011 and complete the
expansion
by
the summer of 2012 ( Duluth News Tribune, 12/24 ).
Mississippi
State Psychiatric Association Critical of State
Psychiatric
Services
: The Mississippi Psychiatric
Association
has released a report
examining
psychiatric services in Mississippi, suggesting that services
are inadequate and in violation of federal law. The report suggests that the state has not focused on
developing community
-ba
sed mental health services, allocating
adequate funding for
community
mental health centers, or
enforcing
minimum standards
of care
. In addition, the authors allege that
state officials have not ensured
that individuals capable of receiving community
-base
d care are moved
out of residential care, in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act
(ADA) and the
U.S. Supreme
Court222s
1999
Olmstead
v. L.C.
decision ( The Clarion-Ledger, 12/28 ).
New Jersey
COPE Center Inc. Receives $9,000 for Youth and Family Behavioral Health Counseling
: The Montclair
Foundation has awarded a $9,000 behavioral health
grant to the COPE Center Inc. The grant will
support
the
behav
ioral health counseling that
the center provides for
youth and families ( The Montclair Times, 12/30 ).
New Mexico
State Withholding
Payments to New Mexico222s Behavioral Health Management Firm
Pending
Investigation
: Pending an investigation into alleged labor agreement violations, state officials say they
are withholding payments to OptumHealth New Mexico
.
Last year, OptumHealth won a four
-year,
$1
billion contract to manage
the state222s behavioral health care services. State officials allege that
OptumHealth has been using out of state workers to process claims, in violation of the firm222s contract
( AP via News West, 1/2 ).
North Carolina
Hospital Association Seek
ing
Hospital Assessment to Increase Medicaid Funds:
North Carolina Hospital
Association
officials say they intend to propose a
hospital
assessment
during the upcoming legisl
ative
session, designed
to
raise additional federal Medicaid funds. Hospital Association officials say the
assessment would affect over 100 acute
-care hospitals and collect $215 million, which would increase
federal Medicaid matching funds. Association o
fficials say $43 m
illion of the additional funds would go
to the state222s Medicaid program, while the remainder would
return
to hospitals to cover the 26 percent
gap between
current
Medicaid reimbursements and service costs.
The
association plans to bring the
measure
before state legislators in January
if
most
hospital boards respond favorably ( Star News Online, 12/25 ).
SAMHSA222s Weekly Financing News Pulse: State and Local Edition
January 5, 2011 1/5/2011
6
State Recoups $53.5 Million in
Wasteful
Health Spending
: On January 3,
North Carolina Attorney
General Roy Cooper
(D)
announced that his office222s Medicaid Investigations Unit recouped $53.5 million
in wasteful health
care
spending in 2010. The funds include $1.9 million in fraudulent
claims
that
a
mental health provider
filed
to Medicare and
TRICARE
. State officials say the unit has recouped $400
million in wasteful spending since 2000 ( WRAL, 1/3 ).
Ohio
Ohio Supreme Court Rules State May Use Tobacco Settlement Funds for Health Care Initiatives
Unrelated to Smoking
: On December 22, the Ohio Supreme Court
ruled that
state officials acted legally
in 2008 and 2009 when they used $230 million in tobacco settlement funding for health care activities
not directly related to smoking
, including expanding
Medicaid coverage.
Originally earmarked for
smoking prevention, the funds were part of a $10.1 billion state settlement with tobacco companies.
The court ruled that
state off
icials acted legally when they used
the
funds
for
purposes other than those
for which they were
originally
earmarked
( The Columbus Dispatch, 12/23 ).
Butler County Mental Health Board Awards LifeSpan Inc. $160,000: The Butler County Mental Health
Board has awarded $160,000 to the social service agency
,
LifeSpan Inc. LifeSpan will use $60,000 for
clinical counseling and $100,000 to hir
e two new employees ( The Oxford Press, 12/27 ).
Oklahoma
GKFF Awards $1.2 Million for MH/SUD Programming and Crisis Intervention in the
Tulsa Area
: The
George Kaiser Family Foundation
(GKFF) has awarded $5 million in grants to over 60 Tulsa
-
area social
services agencies. The funds include $1.2 million for behavioral health services and crisis intervention,
and $1 million for community health initiativ
es. The behavioral health funding includes $244,000 for the
Incarcerated Women222s Project Fund to finance gender
-specific women222s substance abuse treatment at
Oklahoma Department of Corrections facilities ( Greater Tulsa Reporter, 12/22 ).
Rhode Island
Kent County Begins PTSD Court
: Using a $1.9 million federal grant, Kent County has begun a post
-
traumatic stress disorder
(PTSD)
treatment court. Focusing on veterans, the court is a pilot program
that
state officials hope to
expand statewide. The Rhode Island Department of Behavioral Healthcare,
Developmental Disabilities and Hosp
itals
is overseeing the program while the Kent Center is providing
the behavioral health services. County officials estimate the five
-year pilot program will serve 565
individuals in its first year and 3,425 over its duration
( The Providence Journal, 1/1 ; The Providence Journal, 1/1 ).
Texas
T
PPF Projects Health Reform
will Increase
Medicaid Spending Growth Rate
: The Texas Public Policy
Foundation
(TPPF) released a report
projecting that the national health care reform law will increase
Medicaid spending growth
in Texas
. The authors note that Medicaid represented 28.3 percent of the
2008-2009 biennial budget, estimating
that it would
rise
to 39.4 percent by 2040
without health reform
.
Under
health reform, the authors project that Medicaid will account for 49.4 percent
of the state budget
SAMHSA222s Weekly Financing News Pulse: State and Local Edition
January 5, 2011 1/5/2011
7
in
the 2040-2041 biennium, with a total cost of $460 billion ( The Texas Tribune, 12/21 ; Kaiser Health News, 12/22 ).
Utah
SAMHSA Awards $1.6 Million for Northern Utah
Integrated Care Clinic
: The Substance Abuse and
Mental Health Services Administration
(SAMHSA) awarded a $1.6 million grant to the Midtown
Community Health Center and Weber Human Services for integrated health care.
Using the grant,
Midtown providers will contribute to integrated care
in
Weber Human Services222 clinic, with
Weber
providers
serving
patients
222
mental health needs
and
Midtown providers offering
other health services
( Standard
-Examiner, 12/30 ).
Virginia
Virginia Health Care Foundation Awards Mental Health Partnership $82,595:
The
Virginia Health Care
Foundation has awarded $82,595 to a partnership between Danville
-Pittsylvania Communi
ty Services
(DPCS), Piedmont Access to Health Services (PATHS), and the Free Clinic of Danville. The
grant will allow
DPCS to place a licensed professional counselor at the Danville
free clinic two days a week
and
at
PATHS222
facilities three
days a week ( WPCVA, 12/21 ).
Washington
DSHS Requires
Changes at Chehalis Drug Treatment Facility
: Following an October audit, the
Washington Department of Social and Health Services
(DSHS) is instructing
the American Behavioral
Health Services drug treatment facility in Chehalis
to
address cited deficiencies
.
Among other issues, t
he
audit found overcrowding, documentation discrepancies, and a lack of qualified staff. DSHS officials
are
requesting that the facility submit a corrections
plan and
implementation schedule by January 14. If
facility officials do not address the changes, DSHS could suspend or revoke the facility222s certification ( The News Tribune, 1/3 ).
Washington D.C.
Clubhouse Serving Individuals with SMIs Closes: On December 31, the Green Door behavioral health
agency closed its clubhouse,
which offered social, educatio
nal, and employment programming for
individuals with serious mental illnesses (SMI). Green Door officials say they plan to sell the $5 million
facility and use the proceeds to provide behavioral health services at their clinic
. Approximately 150
individuals regularly visited the facility ( The Washington Post via NECN, 12/31 ).
West Virginia
Update: DHHR F
urther Delays Plan to Transfer SSI Recipients to Managed Care
: To give agency officials
and lawmakers more time
for
review, West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources
(DHHR) officials
have
elected to delay
a
plan to
transition Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and cash
assistance recipients222 health benefits from fee-for-service (FFS) to managed care. The plan would affect
health services for
55,000
SSI recipients and
behavioral health and dental services for approximately
160,000 cash assistan
ce
recipients
.
In September, DHHR officials delayed the transitions until January 1;
however, after the most recent delay, the transitions will not begin until after the 2011 legislative
SAMHSA222s Weekly Financing News Pulse: State and Local Edition
January 5, 2011 1/5/2011
8
session. DHHR officials say the change will better integrate behavioral and physical health services ( AP via the Charleston Gazette, 12/21 ).
Update:
Hospital Files Suit Over Medicaid Reimbursement Rates: On December 27, Beckley
Appalachian Regional Hospital (BARH) filed suit against the West Virginia Department of Health and
Human Resources
(DHHR), alleging that DHHR provides inadequate Medicaid reimbursement rates.
BARH officials say the state222s Medic
aid program
reimbursed the hospital $9.9 million for $14.7 million in
services. Citing a $255 million surplus in the state222s Medicaid program last fiscal year, BARH222s attorney
suggests that DHHR is not following the
West Virginia Legislature222s
directive t
o provide 223reasonable and
adequate224 Medicaid reimbursements for health services. The
West Virginia Primary Care Association
also intends to file suit over the rates ( Appalachian Regional Healthcare, Inc. via PR Newswire, 12/28 ; Becker222s Hospital Review, 12/29 ).
