Child services consolidation

The House Mental Health Division tried to sort through statistics Feb. 22 related to the Department of Human Services proposed consolidation of the Brainerd and Willmar child service facilities.

Staff from the Child and Adolescent Behavioral Health Services Program at Brainerd said its facility is consistently at bed capacity with needy and severely mentally ill children. But department statistics show Brainerd’s inpatient services steadily declining since 2004. Therefore, the department recommends consolidating services to save the state $1.2 million annually.

Rep. John Ward (DFL-Brainerd) said he’s asked the department to discuss the consolidation proposal but, “they didn’t want to get together and dialogue.”

In response, he sponsors HF2588 that would require the human services commissioner to have legislative approval to relocate any regional treatment center or state-operated nursing home or program. Current law prohibits the commissioner from closing a center, nursing home or programs at the facility without legislative approval. The division approved the bill and sent it to the House Health and Human Services Committee.

Staff from the Brainerd facility urged the department to rethink the decision, saying the consolidation would significantly impact the involvement of families in their children’s treatment because of the long distance.

Wes Kooistra, the department’s assistant commissioner for chemical and mental health services, said the Brainerd facility is set up to operate under receipts for their services. The facility has been losing money since 2006, and by keeping it open the state is “covering, in many cases, empty beds,” he said.

Division Chairwoman Rep. Neva Walker (DFL-Mpls) asked if the department had considered other funding mechanisms to cover the facility’s services.

Kooistra said that’s an available option but the department has been seeing a reduction in demand.

A companion, SF2368, sponsored by Sen. Paul Koering (R-Ft. Ripley), awaits action by the Senate Health, Housing and Family Security Committee.