In a move to save money, Dane County plans to open two mental health centers

Dane County plans to open two mental health crisis centers in an effort to save money by reducing the number of people hospitalized for mental health problems.

Last fall, Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk proposed funding a $524,000 program with 12 beds to triage mental health patients who are taken to hospital emergency rooms and later Mendota Mental Health Institute, costing county taxpayers more than $1 million a year.

The new plan would fund two centers run by Tellurian UCAN and the Mental Health Center of Dane County with 20 beds total.

The facilities, which would cost more than $1 million each year to run, are expected to rely heavily on federal medical assistance funding. The county budgeted $96,000 in local funds for one facility this year but will likely spend less than that because the first center won’t open until this fall, Human Services Director Lynn Green said.

The exact cost to county taxpayers for two facilities in 2011 is still being determined, Green said. “The expectation is that our savings in Mendota (expenditures) due to the positive impact of these care centers will far exceed any additional money we need to fund these centers in 2011.”

The county estimates hospitalization care costs about $1,000 a day, whereas a diversion facility costs about $400 a day. Federal funding has covered about a third of hospital costs in the last decade with the rest coming out of county coffers.

The county has seen a sharp increase in psychiatric hospitalizations resulting in an increasing cost to taxpayers.

In 2008, the county paid $3.1 million for 6,138 bed days at Mendota, the state psychiatric hospital, more than twice as much as the annual average between 2000 and 2007. Last year the number of bed days dropped to 4,066, costing the county $1.8 million. But this year the county paid $1.1 million for 1,499 bed days in the first quarter alone. The county’s budget for Mendota hospitalizations this year is $2.2 million.

Green said the decision to fund two facilities was made before news broke last month that Mendota’s Adult Assessment and Treatment Unit had lost federal certification, which means lost federal funding and an estimated additional county cost of $400,000 a year.

“The importance of diverting and discharging patients from Mendota is financially even greater,” Green said. “As a result the role of these facilities is even more important than when they were developed.”

The Dane County Board must approve a budget amendment before the new facilities can open. The board’s Health and Human Services Committee is scheduled to discuss the proposal Tuesday night.

Tellurian plans to open an eight-bed unit at its Theresa McGovern Center, 300 Femrite Drive, by Oct. 1, executive director Kevin Florek said. The model is based on Jackson House, a 12-bed Tellurian facility in Rock County that opened three years ago.

The Mental Health Center plans to refurbish its building at 702 W. Main St. for a 12-bed community-based residential facility, though it won’t open until Jan. 1, director of clinical programs Lynn Brady said.

Currently, people who experience a mental health crisis are assessed by the Mental Health Center’s emergency unit and often referred to Mendota, Brady said.

When the new facilities open, the Mental Health Center will coordinate with Tellurian on referring patients to their residential programs instead of an institution. They also plan to take stabilized patients from Mendota and help them find work, housing and treatment in the community, potentially reducing the time they would spend at Mendota.

“The person could be just sitting at Mendota when they don’t need to be there,” Florek said. “They can go to a facility like this and get hooked up with services.”

 

MATTHEW DeFOUR for WSJ | Posted: Monday, July 12, 2010 6:24 pm

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