Behavioral Health Chief Put on Leave

Weeks after an internal investigation was launched into Ventura County’s failed mental health superagency, Behavioral Health Department Director Stephen G. Kaplan--a vociferous advocate of the merged agency that could cost the county millions of dollars--has been placed on an extended leave of absence.

“Effective immediately, managers who previously reported to Mr. Kaplan will report directly to me until further notice,” Health Care Agency Director Pierre Durand wrote in a Jan. 29 memo to Kaplan’s employees.

Last month Supervisor Frank Schillo directed Chief Administrative Officer Lin Koester to investigate which county employees had advised supervisors to move ahead with the merger despite warnings from consultants that it could cost the county millions in federal reimbursement dollars.

In April, supervisors voted 3 to 2 to merge the Behavioral Health Department and the Public Social Services Agency into one superagency. Ten months later, supervisors dismantled the new Human Service Agencies after federal officials told them it violated medical billing laws.

As a result, the county still may be ordered to repay as much as $15 million in Medicare and Medicaid funding it received during the 259 days the merged agency existed.

“I personally rely on our professional staff to provide me with well thought out and balanced information about all decisions that come before the Board of Supervisors,” Schillo wrote to Koester in a Jan. 7 letter. “The change--the magnitude of this merger--was done without the usual good background work our staff usually does.”

Days after Koester completed his investigation, Kaplan was ordered to take a 30-day leave of absence.

“Lin [Koester] felt that this was a necessary step to clear the air,” Supervisor John Flynn said of Kaplan’s departure.

In April, Flynn voted with Chairwoman Susan Lacey and Supervisor Kathy Long to merge the two agencies as a way to provide better service for mentally ill clients.

“We have to listen to the person we hire as the chief administrative officer and this is a decision he has made. . . . It’s not an easy choice for people to make, I’m thinking about the employee here and I’m being very cautious and sensitive about it.”

On Wednesday, Koester refused to discuss details of Kaplan’s leave of absence, citing a personnel confidentiality policy.

“I’m only at liberty to say he’s on an annual leave,” Koester said, adding, “I have completed whatever analysis was required of me, and I have responded to Mr. Schillo in confidential manner.”

On Dec. 21, the day the board rescinded the merger, Schillo publicly admonished Kaplan and Barbara Fitzgerald, the top two managers of the merged agency, wondering aloud why they did not warn supervisors about the financial threat.

“We need to identify the people who have circumvented the system because it will restore confidence in our staff that we’ll get good balanced information from them,” Schillo said Wednesday. “That was the reason for the investigation--to find out who started the whole thing and why it wasn’t done through regular channels.”

Kaplan, who began in February 1981, started as a psychiatric social worker and worked his way up to director of the mental health department. He refused to say whether he would return to his post. He also declined to comment on what prompted his sudden leave.

“I’m not going to make any comment,” Kaplan, 48, said at the County Government Center this week. “At some point, I might talk about it.”

Some members of the Alliance of the Mentally Ill of Ventura County believe Kaplan pushed for the merger to take his department away from the control of Durand, with whom he had often clashed.

The relationship between Kaplan and Durand worsened after the superagency was dismantled and the mental heath department was back under Durand’s direct control, the alliance members said.

“I’m afraid like anything else when something goes wrong, someone has to pay the price,” said alliance member Carol Luppino, who said Kaplan shouldn’t be the only person punished. “I think he’s been designated as the guy to take the fall.”