“ That means we are not doing other things that we should be doing,” he said.
Frazier said if the true cost of cuts to behavioral health services were not fully evaluated, he would like to see the state look at cutting other budget items instead of behavioral health services.
In a separate interview, Jim Rehder, chairperson of the Behavioral Health board, said ACT is especially valuable for people coming out of prison.
“ I worked in the Department of Corrections for 28 years, and I was a warden for four years,” Rehder said. “The Assertive Community Treatment Program, that’s a really helpful thing for people that have mental illness.”
Several Idaho lawmakers, including Rep. Lori McCann and Rep. Kyle Harris, attended the meeting, with Sen. Cindy Carlson and Charlie Shepherd joining over video calls. Sen. Jim Risch and Sen. Mike Crapo did not attend, but sent staff members on their behalf.
Harris said lawmakers did not make the decision to cut acute behavioral health services.
“ We didn’t have a say in where Health and Welfare was gonna make these cuts, or (McCann and I) both would’ve been like, ‘you’re not cutting behavioral health,’ ” Harris said.
McCann said she called Idaho’s Department of Health and Welfare regarding the cuts and was directed to Magellan Healthcare, the state’s Medicaid administrator.
“ I first got the runaround saying, ‘well, Magellan cut (those services),’ ” McCann said. “I met with Magellan to put it right in their face, and they were like, ‘OK, let me tell you, we recommended areas that they not cut. That they don’t cut the ACT team.’ ”
In a statement, the Department of Health and Welfare said it had been working with Magellan the past several months to identify provider rate reductions and changes to optional services as allowable under the law.