Oklahoma service providers facing cuts from Department of Mental Health

OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) — Last month, the Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services contacted at least 23 service providers to tell them about upcoming cuts.

News 4 first told you about panic that hit some portions of the medical community in our state.

It's being caused by a notification that was sent to numerous addiction recovery centers.

The folks who work at those centers said the state is getting ready to cut their funding to the point they may have to close their doors to desperate Oklahomans.

When we first asked state officials about the cuts, we were told no payments have been canceled and the notification that was sent only discussed potential changes in payments.

After our story aired, we heard from those affected who said the state is not telling the truth.

On Thursday, News 4 obtained documents that appear to show cuts are coming.

We spoke with a woman who is a director at a treatment center and her facility relies on funds sent out by the state. We are protecting her identity because she fears retaliation for speaking out.

"We got this email on the 18th informing us that our value-based payment system was going away,” said the director.

The director said she wouldn’t just be losing future funds, the state also said they were taking back funds from last year

"We're a very small facility. For us, that means we are losing out on $41,000 and some change,” said the director.

When the director saw our initial story, she said she couldn’t believe state officials were denying there would be upcoming cuts.

"To take it back to the press and act like it's nothing's been decided… I mean, that's not what they told us,” said the director.

The documents sent out by the state say, "...at this time we cannot guarantee any number of pending services will be paid."

The email also says starting in the second quarter, the department will be ending one particular type of funding.

The email goes on to state that the funds were instituted when federal dollars were available to pay them, however those dollars are no longer available.

The department also acknowledged that these changes are “disappointing”.

The director pointed out that Oklahoma is consistently top 10 in the nation for substance use and mental health problems.

The cuts will not only hurt her center, but also the people who desperately need their services.

"Best case scenario, honestly, we shut down our outpatient services,” she said. "We may be able to keep our residential center open, but you know, this is going to leave a gigantic hole in coverage for substance abuse treatment in the state of Oklahoma."

State leaders said they were not aware the department would be making cuts.

"This week alone we've heard of retroactive cuts for services already rendered, from the Department of Mental Health, again, we found out after the fact that they were revising contracts retroactively dating back to October 1st," said Kyle Hilbert, Speaker of the Oklahoma House of Representatives. "These are services that the provider has already rendered, they have done a service in a contractual relationship with the state and the state is later, 6 months later saying, ‘yes you performed that work but we're not going to pay you for it’.”

State leaders called the cuts bad for everyone.

"It's not good business for the state of Oklahoma, particularly the people these providers serve," said Hilbert.

We reached out to the Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services. We asked them about the disparity between what they told us earlier this week, and what we can now see in the emails they actually sent to the service providers.

They didn't directly address the clear differences, but they sent us the following statement.

SUD providers receiving value-based payments were notified in advance of the planned termination of incentive payments, in accordance with contractual language stating that these payments are contingent on available funds. However, core fixed-rate service contracts remain intact and are not affected by this adjustment.

ODMHSAS is actively working with the legislature and executive branch to determine next steps. All branches are aligned in our priority to serve Oklahomans, and we remain focused on sustaining services through strategic resource allocation, collaboration with key stakeholders, and ongoing evaluation of service needs.

The Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services