Universal Community Behavioral Health’s recent announcement that it would close its Bellefonte outpatient clinic and end its crisis intervention service, known as Centre County Can Help, left many wondering whether and how those services would be replaced for a community already faced with a need for more mental health care resources.
On Tuesday, county officials provided some answers.
The mobile and telephone crisis response and mental health delegate services currently provided by Can Help will continue unabated through new contracts with providers who already work with the county. Replacing the resources provided by UCBH’s outpatient clinic is a more complex challenge, but one the county’s Mental Health/Intellectual Disabilities Office has begun to work through.
Natalie Corman, director of MH/ID, said at Tuesday’s Board of Commissioners meeting that the county was notified by UCBH of the closures, which are effective Feb. 1, on Nov. 26. UCBH is ending the mobile and telephone Can Help program in all 10 counties where it is provided. The Bellefonte clinic is the last of its kind operated by UCBH.
The Meadows Psychiatric Center, which is operated by UCBH’s parent company, Universal Health Services, will remain open.
For delegate services, in which a licensed counselor works with police and medical professionals through the involuntary commitment process, Corman said the county had already been working toward separating out those duties through another provider after evaluating best practices in Huntingdon, Mifflin and Juniata counties.
Beginning Jan. 2, Service Access and Management (SAM) Inc. will provide those delegate services, which have for years gone through Can Help. An initial six-month contract for $54,000 is expected be approved by the commissioners next week.
‘What that means is all our involuntary commitment process, they will be a part of,’ Corman said. ‘They will be a part of the petitioning process; they will be a part of the warrant; and they will be a part of the discussion that occurs in the emergency department.’
Mobile and phone crisis intervention will be provided, beginning Jan. 2, through an amended contract with Center for Community Resources (CCR), the same organization that operates the county’s new walk-in crisis assessment center at 2100 E. College Ave. in College Township. Shannon Quick, program director for CCR, was previously director of Centre County Can Help.
CCR already provides mobile and telephone crisis services in Clarion, Cameron, Elk and Butler counties. The new walk-in center already has a call center built in for follow-up calls and because it is a backup for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, for which Centre Helps is the primary partner in Centre County.
Drug and alcohol services provided by Can Help, including after-hours detoxification requests, also will be handled by CCR. UCBH has agreed to transition the Can Help phone number, 1-800-643-5432, to CCR.
The contract with CCR will be amended to add $335,000 for mobile and phone services.
Though the name will change, callers will not experience any other noticeable change, Corman said. She added that as CCR is hiring licensed counselors for the service, it is possible current Can Help staff may be hired under the new management.
The phone number will continue operating as Can Help until Jan. 2, when it moves to CCR.
‘We think it’s really important that phone number remain in this county,’ Corman said. ‘People know that’s who to call. …They will call that phone number and still get a licensed crisis counselor answering that phone call.’
Corman said that CCR hotline staff will receive calls for delegate services and dispatch SAM, Inc. to respond.
Though UCBH had transitioned outpatient clinics in other counties to different providers, Corman said it recently hired a director of outpatient services in Bellefonte and the county had renewed contracts with the clinic earlier this fall. She said the closure was described as a business decision made by UCBH’s parent corporation.
Centre County has had a contract with UCBH to provide outpatient services for individuals without insurance, currently about 27 people, Corman said. Board of Commissioners Chair Michael Pipe noted that the county had no intention of cutting off any funding for outpatient care.
Community Care Behavioral Health, the managed care program for individuals on Medicaid, had about 700 clients participate in programs at the clinic between April and September, Corman said. Combined with an undetermined number of people using private insurance at the clinic, Corman estimated it served 1,000-1,200 patients.
Two providers have reached out to the county indicating they have capacity to take on some of those people served by the Bellefonte clinic. Discussions are continuing, Corman said.
‘In terms of bringing on a new provider in 50-odd days, that’s difficult,’ Corman said. ‘What we’re trying to do is handle the initial impact of a closure and then look to see about bringing in a new provider to continue with referrals we know will be occurring.’
She added that the county will work through all aspects of the health care system in the county to ensure continued care for those served by the Bellefonte clinic for counseling, therapy and medication management.
At a two-and-a-half hour meeting led by the commissioners in June, community members repeatedly expressed that available mental health services in the county are insufficient. With the loss of the UCBH services, Michelle Warren, business administrator for the independent Sunpointe Health, said during public comment that if Centre County were designated an underserved area, it could receive more resources to recruit and hire psychiatrists and other mental health professionals.
Corman said the Department of Health designates underserved status and the last time a county received the status was in 2014. One part of Centre County, Snow Shoe, is designated underserved, but Corman said her office is reaching out to the health department to see what can be done for the rest of the county. A number of variables, such as poverty levels and population, go into the designation, she said.
County Administrator Margaret Gray said that for now, the takeaway ‘is absolutely no interruption of services.’
Commissioner Steve Dershem said with the existing relationships with CCR and SAM Inc., ‘everything is lined up in our favor,’ to continue mobile and phone crisis services.
‘This corporate decision really has given us a hand of cards that we need to play and we need to work through,’ Pipe added. ‘This is real lives that are being touched, however we have timeframes that we need to appreciate. We’re in transition and we’re going to look forward to the new year and getting new services.’
