BOISE (Idaho Capital Sun) – Last week, one of Meredith Saver’s patients missed an appointment.
The patient — in his late 40s — had been going to visits once a week, Sievers said, after an Idaho Medicaid contractor cut a mobile therapy program for people with severe mental illness. The program was designed for people who have struggled in conventional treatment settings.
Sievers said he was seeing the provider several times a week, and it was improving.
“He was doing really, really well,” Sievers told the Idaho Capital Sun. “In the last few years he’s gotten sober. He’s back to work. And he’s working toward becoming a recovery coach for people with other substance use disorders.”
After she asked around more, she learned that he was dead. But she doesn’t know how or why, she said.
Providers say it marks the fourth death among patients receiving mobile, specialized treatment in less than four months after an Idaho Medicaid contractor cut the service, called Assertive Community Treatment, or ACT. Providers say that in the year and a half before the cuts, only one patient in the program died.
“I have a special place in my heart for these people,” said Sievers, who is a nurse practitioner and ACT team provider for an area in southwest Idaho. “And they’re really some of the nicest people you’ll ever meet, but very mentally ill. … To have that funding taken away from us was heartbreaking, because now we don’t have a way to help these people.”
related | 2 Eastern Idaho patients die after state cuts Medicaid mental health services
related | A third patient died after Idaho cut Medicaid mental health services
related | Despite the recent cuts, Idaho faces a projected state budget deficit, the report says
Magellan, the contractor that runs Idaho’s Medicaid mental health benefits, and the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare were not immediately available for comment.
State health officials have ruled out eliminating the entire ACT program, saying services are still available. But some providers say the services still available aren’t what the evidence-based program was, because providers aren’t paid to staff mobile treatment teams.
About 200 people in Idaho are in the ACT program, Magellan Health Care Idaho CEO David Welsh wrote in a December announcement in response to a federal lawsuit filed by patients.
Idaho doesn’t need more ‘preventable’ deaths, lawyer says
Legislation to restart the program, introduced last month as House Bill 753, has not received a full committee hearing — which is when it will go to the full House.
Rep. Ben Fuhrman, R-Shelley, who is sponsoring the bill, told the Idaho Capitol Sun that securing funding for the program is still a work in progress. His bill estimates that the program will cost the state general fund $1.3 million over the next few months of this fiscal year, and nearly $4 million for the next fiscal year.
“I will reiterate that we need ACT, Peer Support, and the other mental health programs that were cut last December and there are some really good people working behind the scenes to try and make that happen.” Fuhrman told The Sun in a text Thursday. “Once we identify the funding, I hope ACT will give us our full attention. The state of Idaho doesn’t need any more preventable deaths.”
Sievers said she believes her patient’s death may have been preventable.
“I don’t know the circumstances surrounding his death, so I don’t know. If we had known more, it probably could have been prevented,” she told The Sun. “Say it was medical, we can help him get to a doctor’s appointment or any preventative medicine he needs.”
Other providers say that at least two of the first three patients are preventable.
That’s what Rick Boyce, owner of the Chubbuck-based clinic Mental Health Specialists, wrote in a federal court declaration about the first patient’s death. The patient, also in his 40s, died after complications from a minor surgical procedure — after declining follow-up care or sticking to a treatment plan, Boyce wrote.
How we got here: The department had few options for cuts, the official said
Soon after the cuts were announced, providers and the Idaho Sheriff’s Association warned that the cuts would put public safety at risk, and providers said the cuts would further increase costs. Eastern Idaho crisis centers saw an increase in demand after the cuts, which also ended peer support services that help people get mental health treatment.
Lori Wolf, the governor’s budget director, previously told the Sun that preventive services are often the first to go when a state faces a budget shortfall — because it’s one of the few options the state has.
Magellan’s pay rate was cut by the Department of Health and Welfare last year as part of Medicaid provider pay cuts, after Gov. Brad Little ordered state budget cuts.
In December, the state Medicaid director told lawmakers that health officials weren’t sure the cuts would save the state money in the long term. Fuhrman’s bill estimates that reinstating the program would save the state up to $9 million annually.
related | Idaho House to Consider $22M Cut to Medicaid Disability Provider Pay Rates
related | Idaho families defend disability services amid Republican Medicaid budget cuts
The Idaho Capital Sun is part of the States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by donations and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. The Idaho Capital Sun maintains editorial independence. For questions contact Manager Christina Lords: info@idahocapitalsun.com.
=htmlentities(get_the_title())?>%0D%0A%0D%0A=get_permalink()?>%0D%0A%0D%0A=htmlentities(‘For more stories like this, be sure to visit https://www.eastidahonews.com/ for all the latest news, community events and happenings More.’)?>&subject=Check%20out%20this%20story%20from%20EastIdahoNews” class=”fa-stack jDialog”>
#Fourth #patient #dies #Idaho #cuts #Medicaid #mental #health #services #East #Idaho #News