Dunn Center News

Dunn Center laid off about 10% of its staff last month. The Pal-Item article penned by Michelle Manchir, now in the archives noted:

Twenty-nine employees of Dunn Center Mental Health, Inc. have been laid off, said CEO Kay Whittington on Sunday. Whittington called the “temporary reduction in force” a result of Gov. Mitch Daniels’ proposed cuts in Medicaid and a bill that could limit how much Medicaid communal health centers may offer.

This article prompted a letter to the editor (find it here) by E. Mitchell Roob, Jr., the secretary of the Indiana Family & Social Services Administration, which ran in yesterday’s paper claiming that the Dunn Center’s CEO had the story wrong:

While the governor has asked state agencies to reduce spending, cuts to the Medicaid program that serve Indiana’s vulnerable populations were neither made nor proposed. These claims are simply untrue and citing this as the reason for layoffs is misguided at best.

Roob noted that the Indiana legislature had actually increased funding to the 30 Indiana Community Mental Health Centers (CMHCs), of which Dunn is one, in this fiscal year. He claims the financial crises facing Dunn is due to a change in federal guidelines that would cause the CMHC’s to be viewed by the federal government as private companies and not governmental agencies - as they are currently. This change, which Roob claimed could go into effect as early as May 25th of this year, would make the CMHC’s ineligible for certain matching funds from the feds.

The state administration “feels the pain” for these centers, but “[i]n the end, it is up to the CMHCs to consider their options in the face of federal changes and move forward in a way that is best for the community, knowing that the state is a willing partner along the way.” Another way of saying that is “you’re on your own, buddy.”

Roob is back in the Pal-Item today (link), explaining why the state is backing out of ongoing talks to privatize (”localize”) Richmond State Hospital. The paper has a copy of the letter Roob sent to “Behavior Health Services, Inc.” president Jan Passmore. Roob’s letter is addressed to Passmore with the name of the organization listed as “Behavior Health Services, Inc.” I make note of this because the Indiana Secretary of State does not have a corporation listed under that name (there was a 1 year reservation of that name filed back in 1994, but that’s it). Now, there is a “Behavioral Healthcare Services, Inc.” which is likely the true group as it was formed on April 17,1996, and lists as its official address, 498 NW 18TH ST, Richmond - the address of the current state hospital and lists hospital superintendent Jeffrey Butler as its agent..

Now, back in October 7th of 2006, Pal-Item reporter Bill Engel wrote that Jan Passmore was the board president of “Behavior Healthcare” which I took to mean “Behavioral Health Care Associates, associated with Dunn Center and located at 808 South A Street in Richmond. At the time, Engel described this group as follows:

Behavioral Healthcare is made up of representatives of several local health care providers, such as Reid Hospital and Dunn Mental Health Center, along with Richmond city and Wayne County government.

See Dunn Center in there again? In fact, the original article penned by Engel on April 29, 2006, following a press conference the day before, listed the board of directors for the new organization, and this list included Dunn CEO Whittington as the board’s vice president. So part of Dunn’s strategy for the future included being part of the local take over of the State Hospital.

Roob’s January 24th, 2008 letter to Passmore claims that the FSSA’s decision to pull the plug on the transfer was due to the recent determination by the Office of Inspector General of the United States that, following an audit of 3 state hospitals, Indiana was “recommended” to return over $88 Million to the feds. Roob called this audit “a shot across our bow,” indicating “a crisis looming in the future.”

So, either Dunn Center and its associates have run across a patch of bad luck here, or perhaps we can read something a little more sinister at the fact that both of these bumps in the road seem to involve Secretary Roob.

This entry was posted on Saturday, February 2nd, 2008 at 12:34 pm and is filed under Local, Local Items. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.