Tagged: Mental Health

Six counties in southeast Iowa are waiting on the state to sign off on their plan to work together on mental health care services.

Upcoming changes to Iowa’s mental health system may not impact Lee County in the short term.

The state will start covering the cost of Medicaid-endorsed services in July.  That means there will be no more reimbursements for counties, which will drastically shrink budgets for mental health and other developmental disabilities.

What is left in the budgets will be primarily used to pay for services not covered by Medicaid.

Ryanne Wood oversees Lee County’s MHDD department.  She says that is why efforts are underway to shift county-funded clients to Medicaid.

The decision by the Iowa Legislature to revamp the state’s mental health care system has counties struggling to determine their role in the new landscape.

The state will pay for Medicaid-related services, which means counties will receive less in reimbursements.

In response, Des Moines County established waiting lists for a wide variety of services. 

CPC Administrator Ken Hyndman says the idea was to reduce spending in case the county’s budget runs short without certain state reimbursements.

Jason Parrott’s guest is Ryanne Wood, who is Lee County’s CPC Administrator.  They talk about mental health care reform and what is being proposed in Des Moines by the Iowa Legislature.

Lawmakers are running out of time during the spring session and there is still plenty of work to do in the area of services for those with mental health or other developmental disabilities.

Some of the more common services include one-on-one sessions, drop-in centers or sheltred workshops.