ADOPTED - MAY 23, 2000

Agenda Item No. 17

Introduced by the Human Services Committee of the:

INGHAM COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS

RESOLUTION IN SUPPORT OF THE MANAGED SPECIALTY

CARE PLAN PRESENTED BY

SENATOR HAMMERSTROM AND SENATOR JOHNSON

RESOLUTION #00-139

WHEREAS, the Michigan Department of Community Health is in the process of developing a plan for the bidding out of the provision and management of public specialty health care services (services to those with mental illness, developmental disabilities, and substance abuse disorders); and

WHEREAS, this bid-out will impact both Medicaid recipients and persons meeting the Mental Health Code definition for treatment; and

WHEREAS, the Department of Community Health has recently issued a concept paper outlining the goals and general direction of the bid out process; and

WHEREAS, significant concerns were raised, by a broad cross-section of Michigan residents, relative to the managed specialty care bid out outlined in the concept paper; and

WHEREAS, the Department of Community Health has not, to date, developed nor distributed a bid out/managed care plan, addressing the issues raised during the public hearing process related to the issuance of the concept paper; and

WHEREAS, if the development of this plan is delayed beyond the time frame specified by the federal Health Care Financing Administration, the portion of the public mental health and substance abuse system funded with Medicaid funds will, in all likelihood, revert to a fee-for-service system, with its archaic and inefficient clinical, administrative, and fiscal requirements, or be carved back into the Medicaid health benefit administered by Qualified Health Plans, throughout the state; and

WHEREAS, Senator Beverly Hammerstrom and Senator Shirley Johnson have recently announced a proposal for structuring Michigan= s managed care plan for specialty services; and

WHEREAS, the Hammerstrom/Johnson plan promotes many of the features recommended by the Community Mental Health organization, the Ingham County Board of Commissioners, and others throughout the state, including:

< Assurance of local control of the system, maintaining the primacy of the role of each county commission

< Assurance that any CMH wishing to submit a plan as a care manager under this system meets high clinical, administrative, fiscal, and consumer-involvement standards

< Assurance that the awarding of the contract is based on the quality of service that can be provided, at an actuarially-sound cost specified, in advance, by the State of Michigan, for the vulnerable populations currently served by the public mental health system

< Assurance that the provider/care manager that is selected as a result of the request for plan has experience with adults with serious and persistent mental illness, persons with developmental disabilities, children with serious emotional disturbance, and persons with chronic substance abuse disorders

 

ADOPTED - MAY 23, 2000

Agenda Item No. 17

RESOLUTION #00-139

< Assurance of the maintenance of accountability to the community for the expenditure of public funds, as assured by the current community mental health system including: compliance with the Open Meetings Act, Freedom of Information Act requirements, and consumer appeals and grievances processes

< Assurance of the same level of consumer involvement in the governance and operation of the specialty care system that exists in the current community mental health system

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the Ingham County Board of Commissioners supports the concepts contained in the Hammerstrom/Johnson proposal.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Clerk send a copy of this resolution to theMichigan Association of Counties, the Governor, the legislative delegation of Clinton, Eaton, and Ingham Counties, and the Chairpersons of the Senate Families, Mental Health and Human Services Committee and the House Health Policy Committee.

HUMAN SERVICES: Yeas: Czarnecki, Grebner, Schmidt, Severino

Nays: None Absent: Smiley Approved 5/15/00