Albemarle Mental Health is broke, chief is fired

By Catherine Kozak

The Virginian-Pilot

EDENTON

Albemarle Mental Health Center is apparently not only broke, it has also failed to provide acceptable services to the vulnerable population that needed them.

To make matters worse, its board of directors was not apprised of the problems.

Those findings in an internal audit released Tuesday prompted the board, after a nearly three-hour closed session that night, to fire the center's longtime director, Charles R. Franklin.

Sandra Jordan, the center's Local Management Entity coordinator, was appointed interim director. Franklin's dismissal is effective Feb. 1.

"There's no indication that any money went to anything other than Albemarle Mental Health," the board's attorney, John Morrison, said after the meeting.

When the center abruptly announced Jan. 2 that it was divesting its direct services for mental health, developmental disability and substance abuse, it was serving about 3,000 clients in Camden, Chowan, Currituck, Dare, Hyde, Martin, Perquimans, Pasquotank, Tyrrell and Washington counties.

About 80 staff members have lost their jobs, although some will stay until private providers can be found to fill the positions, unit coordinator Gary Stanley said in an interview.

The remaining 62 or so staff were placed, he said, to cover walk-in crisis units in each of the counties, where they will make assessments and referrals to private providers.

Stanley distributed a staffing list at the meeting, detailing what will be covered. Three psychiatrists were listed as dividing their time among six of the counties.

"We'll have to look at telemedicine to link them to where a doctor is," he told the board. "We'll have to deal with issues unforeseen on a daily, weekly basis. It's a starting point."

Care of indigent people will be one of the challenges, Stanley said.

"We may maintain a minimal caseload, so there are going to be exceptions," he said. "This is still evolving."

Another major issue is

that the private providers the center is depending on to take over more care have not been paid completely - or at all - since July, when their contracts ended.

"I think what providers want to know is 'When can we expect some money?' " Tony Rook, administrative director of Integrated Family Services in Ahoskie, told the board. "I think until we can expect some money, we're going to continue to have a problem."

Rook said in an interview that his company has provided services to Albemarle in good faith, trusting it would be reimbursed and not wanting to abandon needy clientele.

"We could have backed away from the table," he said. "Doing the right thing has cost us tremendously."

Garrett Taylor, executive director with Windsor-based Uplift Comprehensive Services, said in an interview that his company is owed at least $150,000 for four program services.

"That's a low estimate," he said.

The saving in staff and clinic costs from divesting is supposed to go toward paying what is owed for services already rendered, board Chairman Richard Johnson said Wednesday. The board does not yet know the total cost that's owed, he said, and it won't know how the private providers will be paid for future services until the new budget is presented.

Johnson said that until the past few years, Albemarle Mental Health Center was well-run. Franklin was director for 38 years. Things seemed to change, Johnson said, after the state's mental health care privatization reform began around 2003.

The board, he said, is baffled that it was kept in the dark about the budget and service shortfalls.

"That's what we're trying to find out," Johnson said. "How could we be deceived this way?"

Despite what Johnson characterized as Franklin's prior good management, he said, the director must take the blame.

"He is the head man, and we had what would be the worst audit I have ever seen," he said. "For years, he performed extremely well. When reform came for Albemarle Mental Health, he wasn't ready."

Findings in the 25-page audit included:

• Private providers had not been paid for all services provided.
• Contact information obtained by clinic personnel was inaccurate or out of date.
• Staff did not regularly follow policies in review of consumer complaints and appeals.
• The unreserved fund balance does not meet the minimum requirements, and there is no budget policy to ensure fiscal solvency over the long run.
• Consultants are being paid more than the policy recommends.
• Bank accounts are not reconciled properly and are not approved by the finance officer.
• Records of investments are not properly accountable or disclosed.
• Receipts and expenditures at cost centers are not tracked to ensure that money received matches money expended.

Catherine Kozak, (252) 441-1711, cate.kozak@pilotonline.com