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Regional board approves Community Life Program mental health recommendations

Ames Tribune (IA) - 7/23/2014

July 23--The 10-county Central Iowa Community Services governance board reviewed a report Monday on how to transition Story County's Community Life Program to a recently implemented regional mental health system by the end of the current fiscal year, approving a $30,000 contract amendment to the firm that wrote the report.

In 2012, the Iowa Legislature passed a law to move away from a county-based approach to mental health services, an effort to pool resources and implement statewide standards while allowing counties to retain some control locally.

At the Story County Administration Building in Nevada, the board endorsed the report's recommendations to the county Board of Supervisors to shift CLP from a county-run program to one run by a private provider, taking measures in the process to smooth the transition by minimizing staff cuts to maintain the current level of service to clients.

"It's very complicated, but we'll get there, and I'm very confident ... that there will be some type of partnership group that will be able to continue to provide the level of service that Story County clients have had in the past," said Supervisor Wayne Clinton, who represents the county on the regional board.

The report was prepared by Parker Dennison, a Scottsdale, Ariz., health care consulting firm with experience working in Iowa that has mapped out a timeline of how it could help CLP transition to the regional system by June 30, 2015.

The $30,000 in additional funds approved for the firm to aid in the process adds to the $35,500 it had already received.

Parker Dennison was chosen after conflict-of-interest concerns were raised about the Board of Supervisors' unanimous recommendation to the regional board earlier this year to work with Eyerly Ball, which provides mental health services in Story County.

The Arizona firm plans to prepare requests for proposals for either one or multiple private service providers to bid on in September. Eyerly Ball could be among them, as well as other central Iowa companies such as the Ames-based Mainstream Living.

During the current fiscal year, which began July 1, the county has budgeted $3.7 million from its supplemental fund for CLP, down from $4.1 million the previous year from its mental health fund -- a funding pool that will not be used for regional services under the new system.

How CLP will be funded by the regional board at the start of the next fiscal year has yet to be fully determined, but Story County estimated that the program has annual operating losses of up to $1.5 million.

According to the report, transitioning to a privately operated system would decrease personnel costs, increase productivity, introduce information systems that are less resource-intensive and bring in a larger organization that could more easily absorb losses.

Story County currently owns four CLP buildings, which the report recommends be sold to the private provider as part of the transition.

CLP serves about 200 to 250 mentally and developmentally disabled residents of Story County.

Clinton said the Story County Board of Supervisors planned to address the report's recommendations in one of its next meetings, which are held at 10 a.m. on Tuesdays at the county administration building.

According to Parker Dennison's timeline, a winning bidder or bidders -- who will be judged independently of the firm -- will be announced in October.

After the bidder completes a CLP staff analysis, according to the timeline, it would then interview and hire new CLP employees next spring to meet staffing needs that have increased in light of cuts made over the past year for financial reasons.

In addition to Story County, the regional board also has representatives from Boone, Franklin, Hamilton, Hardin, Jasper, Madison, Marshall, Poweshiek and Warren counties.

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(c)2014 the Ames Tribune, Iowa

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