OC Mental Health Treatment Center May be in Jeopardy

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Orange County’s contract with Mind OC to manage the Be Well campus will end on Sept. 30, 2024, due to 38 operational problems in a recent audit conducted by the county in July. Be Well OC will manage operations directly instead of through an intermediary nonprofit. Subcontractors hired by the county will continue to provide psychiatric crisis care and substance use disorder services at the Be Well campus.

Be Well OC is a nonprofit and is the first of its kind in the entire state of California, as it is a mix of private and public-funded mental health and addiction treatment for everyone. Be Well OC is the culmination of a public-private partnership that began with the Orange County Board of Supervisors Mental Health Ad Hoc Committee in 2015, with the first treatment center opening in 2021. It is managed by a nonprofit, Mind OC. This contract will be ending on Sept. 30.  
 
An audit from the county found the managing nonprofit Mind OC had “failed to meet its contractual obligations, including generating private insurance revenue to offset the cost of taxpayer-funded services”, according to Veronica Kelley, director of the Orange County Health Care Agency (HCA) who works closely with Be Well OC.

“The July audit highlighted 38 operational problems and raised concerns about potential fraud, staffing shortages, and billing discrepancies.  

Among the audit’s key findings: 

• Managed by Exodus Recovery, crisis program calls were often unanswered or rerouted to Los Angeles. 

• Duplicative billing for residential treatment claims by HealthRIGHT 360. 

• A lack of required training for staff managing substance use disorder treatment and mental health services. 

• Failure to follow up with clients after discharge to prevent relapses. 

• Only 2.6% of campus funding came from private insurance, far short of the 26% goal set in the contract.” 

Be Well OC provides mental health and addiction treatment for everyone

Be Well OC is a nonprofit mental health and addiction treatment service that provides a full continuum of mental health, substance use, and wellness services for children, adolescents, families, and adults in Orange County, California, from urgent care to residential treatment to community wellness support, regardless of insurance status. This public-private mental health care and substance use disorder nonprofit has its main campus in Orange, a mobile crisis response team, and a second campus opening in 2025 in Irvine.  

There are approximately 50,000 emergency room admissions related to mental health and substance use in Orange County each year, costing an average of $2,000 per visit, and the vast majority of these do not need treatment in an emergency department, but oftentimes, patients do not know where else to go. Access to inclusive and affordable mental health and addiction treatment services was not just a problem in Orange County, California, but a problem across the United States.

This is not the first time

Be Well OC has made a tremendous effort to spearhead how mental health care can be accessed, but they have continued to struggle with finding a management company that can operate effectively. The termination of Mind OC is not the first time Be Well OC contractors have come under scrutiny.  Be Well OC’s Orange campus opened in January 2021 but unfortunately faced serious concerns regarding fraud since July 2022. A similar audit in 2022 revealed operational failures under Be Well’s previous contractor, Telecare Corp., who managed the substance abuse treatment program. 

Uncredentialed staff, questionable billing, failure to provide key services, and potential fraud were some of the most serious concerns Orange County officials raised, which ended up getting the inpatient substance abuse treatment shut down for a year. The worst thing one of these audits can do is have a necessary treatment center shut down, which can be devastating for the general population who needs care. Thankfully, this did not happen this time, as the county and Be Well OC acted swiftly to prevent any facility shutdowns that could further jeopardize patient care.

What happens now?

The Orange County HealthCare Agency will manage Mind OC’s operation directly rather than through an intermediary nonprofit. Since the Irvine campus is still under construction and set to open in 2025, Mind OC holds a separate contract to oversee the development of this larger campus. It is not clear whether this contract will hold. The county intends to continue working with subcontractors Exodus Recovery Inc. and HealthRIGHT 360, which provide psychiatric crisis care and substance use disorder services at the Be Well campus in Orange. 

Ensuring access to mental health and addiction treatment is critical for the thousands of people seeking care in our community. AKUA Mind Body is committed to making quality addiction and mental health treatment more accessible to those in need. Our admissions counselors are available 24/7 to guide you through your options. Call us today: 888-629-6707.