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When Salt Lake County Mayor Peter Corroon signed off on potentially far-reaching changes to mental health services, he did so without consulting a powerful partner: the County Council.
And the council wants to know why.
The Mayor's Office announced last week that OptumHealth, a Minnesota-based health and wellness firm, will replace Valley Mental Health as administrator of the county's mental health programs.
It's a landmark shift for the county, which has relied on Valley Mental Health since the late 1980s for those services. And yet, that shift came without council input.
"If there is a major public policy change, we should opine on it," chided Democratic Councilman Randy Horiuchi, saying the mental health move represents a "massive" departure from the status quo. "We should have been part of the discussion."
It's a complaint shared by council members on both sides of the partisan aisle as the county pursues a $55-million-a-year contract with OptumHealth that could change the way mental health services are provided.
OptumHealth would manage mental health, but someone else would provide the actual services. The county has expressed interest in having Valley Mental Health continue clinical care — under OptumHealth's direction — but no arrangement has been made.
To the contrary, Valley Mental Health now is protesting the county's selection.
"For none of us to be involved posted a red flag for me," Republican Councilman Michael Jensen said. It "violated … the partnership we had worked out with the Mayor's Office to do things in tandem."
Corroon says he simply was respecting the independence of a committee called to review mental-health provider bids — a committee that consisted of organizations such as Utah's chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) and the state Division of Substance Abuse and Mental Health.
"We honored the process and decision of the committee," Corroon said. "Should we have let the council know? We are letting them know now."
The bid was awarded to OptumHealth but the contract has yet to be signed.
That's a little late, according to Jensen.
"We are the ones that are the mental health authority in Salt Lake County," he said. "We allow the Mayor's Office to administer what we decide the public policy is."
But Tuesday's discussion was limited by Valley Mental Health's recent challenge to the bid process. Valley President and CEO Debra Falvo alleged in a protest letter to the county that OptumHealth does not meet the basic requirements of the bid. Why? Because the company doesn't have its own network of mental health providers. Instead, it provides only administrative support.
OptumHealth officials haven't commented on that allegation. When contacted last week, a spokesman referred to its "strong track record of managing behavioral health services" for counties.
The protest is expected to be resolved within a week. Meanwhile, it is keeping a lid on public discourse.
"After the protest has been completed," said Deputy Mayor Nichole Dunn, "the Mayor's Office would like to come back to the council and have a full discussion regarding the policy involved and what we see in the future."
Why is Valley Mental Health protesting?
Valley Mental Health is challenging Salt Lake County's selection of a new manager for mental health services. According to a letter filed with the county, the organization's protest is based on the following reasons, among others:
OptumHealth would provide only administrative support to the county's mental health programs, instead of offering a "bundled delivery system" that can provide both management and client care.
The state's Medicaid plan requires the mental-health provider to be a Community Mental Health Center. OptumHealth is not.
Summit and Tooele counties will have to be separated from Valley Mental Health's "collapsed" rate. This will force a statewide recalculation of Prepaid Mental Health Plan rates.
Source: Salt Lake County