Contact: Erika Martinez
(505)986-4819
Erika.Martinez@nmlegis.gov
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 20, 2014
Dem Senators Say Drop in NM Behavioral Health Services Not Surprising, but Upset to Only be Made Aware of Findings Now
Santa Fe, NM – According to a recent Albuquerque Journal article, federal officials from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) contacted the state’s Health and Human Services Department (HSD) in December 2013 about a “concerning” finding that revealed a 23 percent drop in the number New Mexicans receiving behavioral health services since the takeover by Arizona providers last year. State senators say although they were not surprised about the findings, they would have appreciated being made aware of them when HSD was contacted.
“The information discovered meshes closely with what we’ve been hearing from the field, so it’s not shocking. But to me, the key thing is that this report from the feds was done before Christmas and before we began the legislative session and we knew nothing about it. It raised some very serious questions. HSD never mentioned anything about the report and that strikes me as an attempt to bury the findings to make sure it didn’t get any attention,” said Senator Jerry Ortiz y Pino (D-12-Bernalillo). “It contradicts the fact that HSD said the transition of Behavioral Management Services (BMS) to out-of-state companies was smooth and problem-free. If they had information to contradict that, they should have made it public. I’m upset that CMS didn’t copy us on this report, especially after we requested in committees to be kept in the loop.”
According to the report, CMS identified several areas that were affecting care for new and continuing patients, which included a drop in availability of school-based behavioral management services for children. CMS claimed that some required agreements between school districts and new providers had not been executed. HSD has claimed that the finding in the drop of services was simply inaccurate, but according to the article, they also claimed that “some providers were flagged for overutilization of some services, including BMS” and that they “expected a decrease in BMS as it became managed in a more clinically appropriate manner by the incoming agencies.”
“This report proves what many of us have been maintaining for the past few months. Since the Martinez administration’s draconian actions in June, there has been a dramatic disruption of mental health services in our state,” said Senator Bill O’Neill (D-13-Bernalillo) about the report. “HSD has dismissed these assertions as anecdotal, but a neutral federal agency known for its caution in these matters, has verified what those of us close to this situation have known for months: that clients have been denied services, therapists have been leaving the state, and New Mexico behavioral health providers have been put out of business without the benefit of due process. HSD’s statement that they’ve simply been more efficient in their service delivery is laughable. South West Counseling in Las Cruces, for example, has seen their caseload go from 3000 in May to 1000 in November under the leadership of the Arizona based La Frontera and mental health related hospitalizations in Dona Ana County have gone up 50 percent according to a Legislative Finance Committee report.”
BMS in New Mexico dramatically changed in 2013 when HSD froze Medicaid funding for 15 BMS providers across the state, claiming an audit revealed alleged fraud amongst the providers. Service contracts were then taken over by Arizona-based companies. Since then, investigations conducted by the Attorney General’s office, as well as the State Auditor’s Office, have yet to reveal any substantial evidence of fraud amongst the accused organizations.
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