Wayne County, Mich., Officials Expect State To Approve Mental Health Services Contract

Mental health officials in Wayne County, Mich., expect the state on Aug. 27 to approve the county's contract to provide mental health services for the uninsured through a new managed care program, the Detroit Free Press reports (Askari, Detroit Free Press, 8/22). Michigan officials earlier this year visited the county to determine whether the state should continue the current mental health program or privatize the program. Under Michigan's mental health system, the state contracts with local Community Mental Health Service Programs to administer community-based services for Medicaid beneficiaries. The contracts last two years, and the state this year has reviewed proposals from the programs to determine whether to continue their contracts. The Michigan Department of Community Health in June recommended approval for 16 of the 18 proposals but said that programs in Detroit-Wayne and Muskegon-Ottawa counties had not met the state's conditions (Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, 6/10). In Wayne County, officials have developed a new program called Your Choice. Under the program, uninsured county residents with mental or developmental disabilities could receive services through one of six mental health HMOs (Detroit Free Press, 8/22). The HMOs would receive a per-client fee based on a client's past use of services (Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, 8/19). The program would take effect Oct. 1.

Praise from HHS
The county's new program "is being touted as a model for mental health reform," the Free Press reports. HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson has written to the nation's governors and asked them to develop programs similar to Your Choice. "Wayne County is leading and the federal government is trying to get everyone else to follow," Patti Kukula, interim director of the Detroit-Wayne County Community Mental Health Board, said (Detroit Free Press, 8/22).