Counties hiring consultant to guide crisis response talks

Benton and Franklin counties are poised to hire a Yakima health executive to lead efforts to unite behavioral health and substance abuse services in the Tri-Cities.

Shon Small, chairman of the Benton County Commission, said Tuesday that the bicounty mental health board will recommend that Rick Weaver, CEO of Comprehensive, coordinate planning as the bicounty human services department adapts to Washington’s privatization model.

The commissions each must approve Weaver’s contract.

The department provides crisis response services, though mental health services and substance abuse services are provided by outside vendors.

Behavioral health and substance abuse services are being consolidated this spring and by 2020, all health services will fall under the control of organizations called managed care networks.

The shifting landscape is causing jitters in the local mental health world.

In a March 14 letter to the Benton County chairman, the union representing about 20 employees of the bicounty Crisis Response asked for a voice in the conversation.

“We would hope that as commissioners you will see the value of including the front line staff who have decades of practical knowledge on the subject of Crisis Response and the vulnerable citizens they serve,” wrote Pat Thompson, deputy director of the Washington State Council of County and City Employees.

Later on Tuesday, Weaver pledged to welcome employees, government officials, patients, citizens, law enforcement and service providers to the conversation. But he said it’s important to make a plan now rather than wait for a managed care network to make the decision.

“I know there’s some anxiousness,” he told the Herald by phone from Yakima.

Indeed, it has already triggered an employment dispute.

Linda Robb, former administrator for Benton-Franklin Human Services until she was terminated in August, filed administrative claims against the counties March 3. The claims, a prelude to suing in Washington Superior Court, claim she was harassed, discriminated against and wrongfully terminated after she voiced opposition to privatizing crisis response services.

The Benton-County Crisis Response Unit is one of six county-level agencies in Washington that still provide direct crisis services.

Weaver led Yakima’s shift 25 years ago. The result is a system that rewards providers for delivering positive outcomes and dedicates savings to new services. Comprehensive has been able to take out commercial loans to invest in in-patient and other facilities lacking in the Tri-Cities, he said.

Weaver said that his goal is a plan that provides a proper menu of services and eliminates gaps in the system.

“The system is going to change over the next five to six years,” he said.

Comprehensive operates in eight Washington counties, including Yakima and Walla Walla. It has a small presence in the Tri-Cities.

Weaver said it does not intend to compete with existing providers in the market but could launch services no one else is interested in providing.

Details of his contract were not released Tuesday.

This story was originally published March 15, 2016 at 5:59 PM with the headline "Counties hiring consultant to guide crisis response talks."