Transition plan announced for Cascadia
From Public Affairs:
Multnomah County, Cascadia Behavioral Healthcare and state officials released a transition plan that will transfer some mental health programs to other service providers. The move was a result of more than two months of in-depth financial analysis and evaluation of the service capacity of Cascadia and community mental health providers.
“The county and state are committed to making this work, ” said Multnomah County Chair Ted Wheeler. “This is a positive first step. Further changes are likely in the future.”
Cascadia’s financial problems have developed over time and reached a crisis in early April when Cascadia leadership approached the county and state for a $4 million bailout. After conducting a thorough cash flow review, county and state financial experts determined that the agency could not meet payroll and was about to default on a $2 million bank loan.
Adding to the downward spiral, a Medicaid audit revealed significant billing problems, with an estimated $1.8 million to be repaid, and Cascadia’s bank seized their cash accounts the day before payday. Without an infusion of funds from government, Cascadia leaders indicated that the agency would be forced to close its doors. In May, Multnomah County and the state of Oregon stepped in to prevent the imminent collapse of Cascadia with a $2.5 million loan.
The proposed transition plan outlines the transfer of some of Cascadia’s services and requires the agency to adhere to a number of conditions including ongoing monitoring by the county and state. The transition plan is available online at www.co.multnomah.or.us/mh.shtml and includes a link for the public to offer their comments.
According to Wheeler, “We will be following this very closely to ensure that the outcome is in the best interest of clients and taxpayers. A strong mental health system requires that we are accountable to clients and closely monitor the performance of our contracting agencies. It is a fluid situation, and we are working hard to provide stability for the future.”
Clients who have questions or concerns may call the county’s Mental Health Call Center at 503-988-4888. The Call Center operates 24/7.
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Posted on June 17, 2008
Comments
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Posted by: christina - June 21, 2008 02:52 AM
As a employee of cascadia - bridgeway in salem oregon we are not told hardly anything except that nobody knows what is going to happen. There has been 3 meetings with marion county officials and have been told of only one of them which occured on 6-19-08 we were told bt a e-mail but didnt here what might be going to happen , just that nothing has finalized yet . All of us are committed to the clients that we serve here and have been to cascadia I JUST WISH THAT THE COMPANY WOULD SHOW SOME HONESTY IN WHATS HAPPENING EVEN IN SOME OF THE THINGS THAT ARE BEING DISCUSSED WITH MARION COUNTY its clear that the are witholding infomation from us !