C&A CSB Section of Georgia Association Meeting

							        C&A CSB Section of Georgia Association Meeting
                           04/28/06
                           Minutes

Minutes Status: Not Approved

Attendees: David Anderson, Advantage Behavioral Health
Services; Pam McCollum, Gwen Craddieth, and Monica Parker,
Cobb/Douglas Community Service Board; Zack Mercer, Community
Service Board of Middle GA; Traci Agnew, GRN Community Service
Board; Lutricia Rutledge for Valerie Tuttle, MHDDAD State Office;
Willie Green, Middle Flint Community Service Board; Lyn Campbell
for Grace Davis, New Horizons; Sherrie Pitts Johnson, Oconee
Center Family Directions; Kay Hill for Lisa Rudeseal, Pathways
Community Service Board; Gene Williams, Phoenix Center
Behavioral Health; Cynthia Cone-Dekle, Pineland Area MHDDAD
Community Service Board; Roz Johnson, South Georgia Community
Service Board; Stephanie Pearson, Dekalb Community Service
Board; Betty Godfrey and Adam Raulerson, GA Mountains;
Christa Raines and Amy Holland, McIntosh Trail CSB; Pat
Callowey, GA Pines CSB; Shilloy Bates and Pamela Wagner,
Lookout Mt. CSB; Darlene DeLaigle, Ogeechee CSB.

Minute status: Not approved

Zack Mercer, chair, called the meeting to order at 12pm.

Phoenix Center Behavioral Health reported having to consolidate
treatment sites and loosing 15 staff and one doctor due to budget
cuts.

Many CSBs reported having trouble hiring and maintaining CSI staff.

Middle GA reported having to close their Activity Therapy program,
their Substance Abuse (SA) Day Tx. Program (weren’t getting
referrals from DJJ as promised. DJJ reported feeling 6 day/week
program too long), and having to suspend CSI services due to lack of
staff/funding.
Discussion shifted to APS giving CSBs a lot of trouble for providing
CSI in the schools. One CSB reported APS told them “Don’t do the
school’s job.”
A member added they were told Title I schools received money to
provide “CSI-like” services to students so MH coming into schools to
and providing CSI services is a “duplication” of services. Middle GA
reported their School Superintendent said the money referred to in
this scenario actually pays for reading and math services/programs
not “CSI-like” services.

Members also discussed the rising gas prices as a financial barrier to
providing in-home MH services. Reimbursement for in-home
services do not cover cost for agency to provide these services.

Oconee CSB reported changing their hours of operation. They are
open Mon-Thurs 9a-9p and Fri 9a-5p. Oconee reported a number of
staff resignations when the operating hours changed.

Many CSBs reported record staff retirment at their agencies and
fielding the “Should I be looking for another job?” question often from
existing staff.

GRN CSB reported the implementation of a “Master Assessment
Team” to begin providing all intakes/reauthorizations for the agency.
This team was developed to meet the challenge of the numerous
insurance providers and their differing auth/reauthorization
processes. The team is comprised of “phone screeners” (bachelor
level staff) who take calls from consumers/SPOE, get basic
information on the reason consumer is requesting services, and who
take insurance information and verify in the state system. The team
also has dedicated office administration staff who handle the financial
piece of the intake once the consumer comes in for their first appt.
Once the financial information is reviewed with the consumer, they go
to an “assessor/treatment planner” (trying to have all of these folks as
licensed staff, but do have some MHPs without a license in some of
these positions) who complete the psycho-social and treatment plan.
The assessor/tx planner then completes the proper authorization for
the insurance co. based on their recommendations. The
authorization request is then sent to a care management rep
(licensed staff) who interface with the insurance co., if needed
(usually for higher levels of care). The assessor/tx planner then give
the consumer their next appt. with GRN “ongoing” staff. Lastly there
are “A-typical”/crisis clinicians (at least a MHP) to work with walk-ins
and crisis calls. The number of all of these positions were based on
number of intakes at each GRN site (data GRN collected over last the
last year).

Some CSBs mentioned to GRN that it may be difficult for their MAT to
handle all of the agency’s reauthorizations and they should consider
a way for “ongoing” clinicians to feed information to the MAT that will
be needed for reauthorization.

A member reported hearing CST will be “eliminated” for C&A and that
the Division is pushing IFI instead.

Satella CSB is the only CSB meeting it’s grant-in-aid (GIA) contract
numbers. Satella reported they are able to do this because they are
the only service provider in their area.

Advantage Behavioral Health Services reported they are beginning to
do screening for MH services in the schools. They are also
marketing their CSI program to private providers. In addition, they
are finding a large number of their C&A population are in need of CSI/
case management services. And lastly, they are contracting with
outpatient clinicians versus hiring them as full-time staff (they’re
looking at structuring their IFI team this way as well).

The new GIA contracts require that ½ of all services provided must
be CSI services.

Middle GA reported they are contracting with CSI staff versus hiring
as full-time staff. They are also researching a way to bill the services
they provide to drug court.

Dekalb reported positioning themselves as the preferred day services
provider in the community/private sector versus trying to meet
unrealistic Division units of service.

Members verbalized feeling the Division moving away from funding
C&A residential programs. Middle GA reported they have a 6-9 bed
male SA (substance abuse) residential facility that is funded by GIA.
Middle GA heard there would be significant cuts and as a result there
would be only 2 such facilities in the entire state of GA. Most of the
males in this program are committed to DJJ.

Members were asked if anyone had developed a consolidated
treatment plan they could share with the group. Members were
asked to bring this tx plan to the next section meeting or to email
Traci Agnew (tagnew@grncsb.com) for dissemination.

It was reported that each CSB was responsible for negotiating rates
with the various CMOs.

A member reported hearing Cepatico is not buying day treatment
services after Dec. 2006.

There was discussion that the Division may be creating new billing
codes for Suicide Prevention services as well as new codes to enable
billing for parent training services.

The group discussed the “Summer Recreational Program” grants
(funds made available from DHR to pay for summer recreational
activities for GA youth). Many CSBs verbalized a need for this
money to cover much needed MH services for GA youth versus
summer recreational activities.

The group had some questions about the Single Point of Entry
(SPOE) organization and how it’s designed to work since CSBs have
been provided very little information. Members expressed concern
and frustration that all of the GIA money for this program (which
includes crisis intervention services) was taken from CSBs to fund the
new SPOE provider, yet CSBs are still contractually obligated to
respond to crisis calls from the SPOE in their catchment areas.
Members were wondering how they were going to pay for these crisis
response services.

The meeting closed with members expressing upset they spent the
entire last C&A CSB section meeting with Valerie Tuttle, from the
Division, and posed numerous questions and concerns about the
direction of and cut in funding for C&A MH services in GA and still
have not been provided answers to those questions/concerns (see
Minutes from the 2/10/ 06 section meeting for details). Lutricia
Rutledge, representing the Division for Valerie Tuttle, agreed to relay
this upset and request for answers to Ms. Tuttle.

The meeting adjourned at 2:03pm.

Respectfully submitted,

Traci Agnew
Secretary