November 26, 2019 — At a behavioral health forum in Caspar on november 25th, attendees heard about county mental health services, the behavioral health advisory board, and what’s going on with Measure B. Many people attending the League of Women Voters event, which was postponed twice due to power outages, also expressed a strong desire to have a CRT, or critical residential treatment unit, in their community as quickly as possible. And there was some anxiety over whether there would be enough Measure B money to make sure coastal areas get the psychiatric treatment facilities they want.
Tammy Moss Chandler, the head of the county’s health and human services department, reminded attendees that Measure B, the half cent sales tax that is to be used for mental health services and facilities, is intended to supplement other sources, like the millionaire’s tax and MediCal. And, to those worried about the high cost of treatment, she sounded the now-familiar refrain that the county is currently paying to send mental health patients to faraway facilities.
Dr. Jenine Miller, who is the head of the county’s behavioral health services and one of eleven members on the Measure B citizen’s oversight committee, gave an update on the county’s compliance with state requirements on delivering mental health treatment. The county is tasked with providing mental health care to MediCal patients whose condition is so severe, they have a hard time functioning.
Close to half the county is on MediCal. And when it comes to documentation, the department of healthcare services has strict requirements.
Miller said that last year, the county had a 98.3% rate of compliance, up from about 42% in 2012. She reported that the same year, more than half of the services were disallowed for payment, while last year, only 1.7% of the services were disallowed. And she got a smattering of applause when she said she had cut about $400,000 from administrative costs.
But a big topic on everyone’s mind was Measure B, which has now accumulated close to ten and a half million dollars. At this time, there are no Measure B funded mental health treatment facilities in the county, though some of the money was used to purchase the former Jehovah’s Witness church in Redwood Valley as a training facility, which is allowed in the language of the measure. The sheriff’s department contributed to the purchase price of the property, so that a small outbuilding could be used as a substation.