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Warm Springs could remain 'unaccredited' for two years, without federal funding – Daily Montanan [1]

['Keith Schubert', 'More From Author', '- August']

Date: 2022-08-26  

The state health department’s director said on Friday that it could be at least two years before the state tries to reapply for federal reaccreditation at the Montana State Hospital.

Along with losing its federal accreditation earlier this year, which cost the hospital $7 million, the state’s only psychiatric hospital is $17 million over budget for the fiscal year 2022 — due almost entirely to its reliance on traveling staff — and has a 45% staff vacancy rate. There is also a waitlist of more than 40 people, most of whom are sitting in jails while they await to be admitted to the hospital, the department said Friday.

At Friday’s legislative meeting, Director of Public Health and Human Services, Charlie Brereton, recognized the importance of recertification but did not commit to actively pursuing it.

“I want to be clear that the administration, the department, I as Director do not discount the importance of CMS recertification. At this point in time we estimate best case scenario that we would be looking at 24 months,” Brereton told the Children, Families, Health and Human Services Interim Committee. “Before we formally move in that direction, we want to be sure that we are resourced adequately.”

Brereton said the decision to apply for recertification will depend largely on the results of a months-long analysis by Alvarez and Marsal — a New York-based consulting firm that inked a $2.2 million with the department earlier this year to evaluate all state-run health facilities.

Democratic lawmakers, who sent DPHHS a letter earlier this week urging the department to pursue re-accreditation, pushed Brereton on Friday for answers about the future of the state hospital. Brereton took over the helm at the agency in June following the resignation of former director Adam Meier.

Struggles at the hospital have long been documented by staffing shortages, poor working conditions, and lack of quality care for patients culminating in the loss of federal funding. While the end game for the facility may not be clear, employees have said morale is improving at the hospital, but employees, lawmakers, and DPHHS alike agree that more work needs to be done.

Danny Tenenbaum, D-Missoula, citing a recent op-ed by Rep. Llew Jones, R-Conrad, asked Brereton about using the state’s $1.6 billion surplus to invest in a regional health care model, which could potentially save the state $50 million.

“We are very interested in exploring a similar model and sort of working internally, in the infant stages, but exploring what a more regionalized mental health system would look like,” Brereton said.

At the same time, Brereton pointed out the complexities that come along with such an ambitious plan.

“I think it’s important to note that heading in that direction … it’s a future state that would take years to get there, but we would love to work with the legislature now to start laying the groundwork, especially as we head into the 2023 session,” he said.

Lawmakers also asked Brereton point blank if there are plans to privatize the state hospital.

“No, there is not a plan to privatize the Montana State Hospital,” Brereton responded. But after a short pause, he added, “At this point in time.”

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[1] Url: https://dailymontanan.com/2022/08/26/warm-springs-could-remain-unaccredited-for-two-years-without-federal-funding/

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