MANDY PADGET

IRON MOUNTAIN — Dickinson County Board will do more research before it weighs in on plans to change the way mental health services contracts in Michigan are managed.

Currently, there are 10 regional Prepaid Inpatient Health Plans in the state that are charged with managing a region’s behavioral health Medicaid funds. The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services wants to open those contracts to competitive bidding.

Mandy Padget, CEO of Northpointe Behavioral Healthcare System, asked the board this week to adopt a resolution objecting to MDHHS’s plans, but her request was put on hold. According to the resolution, the management change “may open to the door to private, non-profit health plans or managed care organizations assuming control over behavioral health services.”

The Michigan Association of Counties claims that private health plans operate at higher cost than their public counterparts. In a recent letter to Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, MAC said the current system spends approximately 2% of Medicaid funding on administrative costs, marketing, billing, and executive salaries, while privatized plans often spend about 15% on these overhead costs.

According to MDHHS, however, the shift to competitive bidding is meant to “address issues within the current PIHP system that compromise service quality, accountability, and efficiency.”

NorthCare Network is the regional PIHP for the Upper Peninsula, overseeing Northpointe Behavioral Healthcare System as it serves Dickinson, Iron and Menominee counties. The NorthCare Network Governing Board is comprised of three delegates from each of the five U.P. community mental health service program boards. Those boards, in turn, are appointed by the respective county boards.

The resolution presented by Padget says that counties across Michigan have historically played a vital role in the governance, funding and oversight of the public behavioral health system. Maintaining a locally governed system is “essential to ensuring that individuals with mental health and substance use needs receive timely, appropriate, and high-quality care,” it states.

County Board Chairman Dan Harrington, however, said Michigan’s current structure is similar to California’s, which to him is “a red flag.” Too many questions remain before the board can adopt a resolution, he said.

Many states have moved toward privatizing mental health care, Padgett acknowledged, but she added it hasn’t necessarily been a success. She invited the board to contact her to get more information or raise other questions.

In setting aside the proposed resolution, the board agreed to look into it further. Earlier this month, the Iron County Board adopted a resolution presented by Padget to oppose the MDHHS plan.

MDDHS has said it plans to issue a request for bids this summer, but the language of the proposal has yet to be formalized.

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Jim Anderson can be reached at 906-774-2772, ext. 85226, or janderson@ironmountaindailynews.com.