Photo by John Hanson / Summit Daily News
Results of audits by three unprecedented institutions on Mind Springs Health was announced at the webinar on Thursday, May 12th. The audit will take place after the three agencies have received a number of complaints, including whistleblower reports on dosing control, filed by the county commissioner and elected officials.
According to the release After being audited by the Colorado Department of Health Policy and Finance in April 2021, the Mind Springs Corrective Action Plan had already been implemented. The latest audit was conducted in January after “Continuous complaints from several community members citing the difficulty of access to behavioral health services and the lack of transparency from Mind Springs.”
As part of the audit, the Colorado Department of Health Policy and Finance turned to the Rocky Mountain Health Plan to investigate Mind Springs. This organization is contracted by the state as an administrative services organization and works closely with Mind Springs. Mind Springs employees have expressed concern to the organization about “medication management, medication adjustments, lack of peer review processes, and other treatment practices in outpatients, hospitalizations, and residences.”
During the webinar, Rocky Mountain Health Plan CEO Patrick Gordon published some of those findings.
The Healthcare Policy and Finance Department has issued a corrective action plan to Mind Springs detailing the various ways organizations need to improve.
The other two departments that conduct audits of the organization were the Human Services Department and the Public Health and Environment Department in Colorado. “We have found a breach in reporting serious incidents, disclosing information, service plans, discharge summaries, and required signatures,” said the Human Services Division. We also issued a corrective action plan for Mind Springs.
The release states that the Department of Public Health and the Environment “could not substantiate the agency’s allegations of failure.”
During the webinar, the leadership of each organization expressed optimism that these plans and frequent oversight of Mind Springs would lead to the coveted changes.
“We need Mind Springs to succeed. We need this access point, a safety net that crosses the west slope. We need to improve performance, but that’s good news,” said Managing Director of the Colorado Department of Health Policy and Finance. Kim Bimestefer said in a webinar.
However, some of the local leaders in Summit County are less certain.
“I disagree with the characterization that mind springs are needed,” Pogue said. “I think we need care to meet the needs of our clients. I think there are a variety of different strategies that can guide us there.”
Summit County Sheriff Jaime FitzSimons said the same thing.
Photo by Hugh Carrie / Summit Daily News Archive
“This is six years later,” said Fitz Simons, referring to the time when Summit County began to leave Mind Springs. “What are we doing? Wash, rinse, repeat — nothing has changed, and we haven’t learned anything new. So they do these actions. If the plan fails, what’s that? Are we really going to chase them? “
Both Pogue and Fitz Simons said they were grateful for the audit conducted by Rocky Mountain Health Plans. According to Pogue, their findings highlight issues heard from community members about their experience at Mind Springs. However, as these new corrective action plans are currently in place, she has expressed concern about how long it will take to fix some issues.
“I heard yesterday that this audit was finished, but it took several months to finish. Now it’s time to go through another period to see what Mind Springs submits to the state in terms of corrective action. It will take some time, and then it will take more time for corrective action to be taken, “says Pogue. “In the meantime, my frustration is suffering and really suffering for the people of Summit County.”
FitzSimons also said he was concerned about time and questioned whether the recommendations and requirements set out in the corrective action plan would actually be implemented.
“I think the state is just worried about what happens if Mind Springs doesn’t succeed,” Fitz Simons said. “What do you mean? But again, what is success? What if you complete some of your action plans but not all?”
Both Pogue and Fitz Simons are fed up with future plans, but Pogue said he hopes the local community will have more opportunities to engage in state research.
“We want more conversations with the local community. We want to be more transparent about the specific steps that will be taken and how they will affect Summit County,” said Pogue. I am. “I would like to know more in detail from the timeline of some implementations of these changes. What I’m most looking for is what went wrong and how to prevent this from happening again. A deeper understanding of. “
For more information on auditing, please visit HCPF.Colorado.gov/audit-findings-mind-springs-health...
