Faced with the growing possibility of significant discounts of Medicaid, the supervisors of the County of San Diego did not move away from new investments in mental health care on Tuesday, approving requests for additional hospitalization and ambulatory contracts which would add about $ 15 million to the budget for the fiscal 2026.
The members of the board of directors supported unanimously, the supervisor Jim Desmond absent, pursuing plans to contract for the equivalent of 30 additional behavioral beds managed by the Paradise Valley hospital in National City, double the quantity of space reserved by the South Bay health system for the Medi-Cal beneficiaries. Additional contracts for a new “partial hospitalization” program with a capacity of 35 patients, and for additional beds of advice and care and processing of chemical dependence, also made the list.
Luke Bergmann, director of behavioral health services for the county, made a final report on the progress of “optimal care routes” that his team developed in 2022. Having recently announced his departure from his current position to spend more time with his family and also to take an uncluttered job in the private sector, it was the director’s final presentation.
He pointed out that, although some of the projects listed represent work extensions that his department already does, some, such as the partial hospitalization program, are new.
“This would mark the first day treatment options accessible to the media for county adults,” said Bergmann.
Partial hospitalization is a method of providing mental health care which makes participants visit hospitals for treatment during the day but return home during the night. These programs are often favored for their ability to meet more serious mental health care needs without keeping patients in full -time locked units.
An existing partnership with the Viejas of the Kumeyaay Indians, which manages an opioid treatment program under contract with the county, is also ready to extend its capacity, starting with 150 treatment slots, recently extending to 200 and now with discussions in progress to reach 250.
The board of directors and care establishments, where people live after receiving intensive treatment, often in locked hospital units, also develop with the help of a subsidy of $ 44 million from the State Health Services department. In March, the county extended two additional advice and care contracts, adding a capacity of 55 more residents. This increase followed prices in February to work with four newly authorized suppliers, issuing contracts that could house 166 residents.
Recent additions bear the total number of batch of advice and care to 475, an increase of 97% compared to 2022 when the Pathways program was launched.
But the official drafting of Tuesday behavioral health actions included a note that the county had budgeted $ 390 million in expected funding from Medi-Cal this exercise and an even more important allowance in anticipation of a new “renunciation” program in Medicaid which should begin next year. Given the rampant speculation at the national level that the congress will soon make deep cuts in Medicaid, called Medi-Cal in California, it remains to be seen how long the current list of investments will be.
“Changes in potential policy at the federal level could have a direct impact on capacity (behavioral behavioral services) to develop and financially support Medi-Cal programs, initial proposals resulting in significant potential loss of income in mental health programs and consumption of BHS substances,” said the letter of the board of directors on Tuesday.
Rather than dwelling on this possibility, or asking for investments of new investments until the image of federal funding resolves, the supervisors have rather taken turns Bergmann Farewell and the acting director of the Nadia Privara reception. Privara, who holds a master’s degree in public administration of the San Diego State University, joined the county in 2005 and the behavioral health team in 2014, the most recently deputy director.
Terra Lawson-Remer, chairman of the interim board of directors, called the complex list of service extensions “a real brilliant light of what we have done in this county”.
“Dr Bergmann, I hope we can continue to work together in an incarnation in the future,” said Lawson-Remer.
The supervisor Joel Anderson, whose district covers most of the County of East, thanked Bergmann for having supported a new behavioral health center in El Cajon, now under construction.
The supervisor Monica Montgomery Steppe echoes the praise of his colleagues, calling for the independence of Bergmann in the face of often critical public comments.
“There are a lot of misunderstandings, disinformation and stuff,” said Montgomery Steppe. “Thank you for somehow gained the weight of this with Grace since the time you have been here.”
Originally published:
California Daily Newspapers
