Funds for Mental Health Programs at Risk

Ventura County’s troubled mental health department has been stripped of nearly $1 million in state funding in recent months and may lose the entire $5.3 million it receives for special programs if problems go uncorrected, officials said Friday.

State Sen. Cathie Wright (R-Simi Valley), who helped create the Ventura statewide model for treating the mentally ill, vowed a fight to withhold the $5.3 million the county receives for operating innovative programs because she is dissatisfied with administrators.

“How can they be a state model and help other counties when they don’t know what they’re doing themselves?” Wright asked. “Before they get any money, they have to walk the line. You don’t pay somebody for promises.”

The state probe is separate from two other cases involving the county’s mental health system.

Last week the county settled a Medicare fraud case with the U.S. attorney’s office for $15.3 million and is close to settling a case with the U.S. Health Care Financing Agency for about $300,000, making it the biggest financial scandal in county government history.

The federal and state investigations were touched off by the county’s disastrous attempt in April 1998 to combine its social services and mental health departments. The superagency was dismantled nine months later after it became clear it had violated federal organizational rules.

In July, the state Department of Mental Health began withholding the $436,111 monthly payments it awards the county for carrying out the state’s Systems of Care program.

The program calls for patients to receive services from a team of mental health professionals and to treat patients in the “least restrictive environment” possible.

The payments for July and August total $872,222. The state also withheld the $66,672 usually issued to the county at the end of the fiscal year in June. That money--5% of the $5.3 million--is set aside at the beginning of the fiscal year in case the county runs over budget.

The agency is uncertain whether any of the money would be restored if the county succeeds in repairing the system, said Nora Romero, state department spokeswoman.

“They won’t receive any money until we’re confident that they’re taking the steps they need to take,” Romero said. “We’re still reviewing whether they will continue to receive the funding at all.”

While officials work on a correction plan, the county will not receive the funding, Romero said.

The county has until November to correct the problems.

Some problems within the health care system include a perceived climate of fear and intimidation between top management and other employees. Complaints have targeted the diminishing role of psychiatrists and an “exceedingly high” number of patients assigned to the hospital’s more restrictive psychiatric ward.

Behavioral Health Department Director David Gudeman said he is working to correct the problems. So far he has fulfilled the department’s requirements by submitting correction plans on schedule.

“We’re working with the state on this, even as we speak,” Gudeman said Friday. “It was my understanding that we are right on target.”

Gudeman said services and programs for the mentally ill have not yet been affected by the reduced funding.

Supervisor Frank Schillo said he believed Gudeman would restore the program, but he lamented the lost funding.

“When you have someone powerful like Cathie Wright and she’s determined to prevent us from getting the funding, then we’re doomed,” he said.