ROCKLAND, Maine — The organization that has provided mental health services to the midcoast area for decades plans to appeal a state decision to award the next contract to a different company.
The Maine Department of Health and Human Services announced earlier this month that it was awarding the state-funded crisis mental health services contract to Sweetser for the region that covers Knox, Lincoln, Sagadahoc and Waldo counties.
That contract has been with Maine Behavioral Healthcare, which assumed control of Midcoast Mental Health Center more than a year ago. Midcoast Mental Health has offices in Rockland and Belfast and has provided those services for more than 30 years. Maine Behavioral has 100 to 150 employees combined in the Rockland and Belfast offices and 27 mobile crisis workers who meet with people either at those offices or at the hospital or their homes.
Dennis King, CEO for Maine Behavioral Healthcare, said he was surprised by the decision of DHHS to award the contract to another organization. He said an appeal would be filed by Friday.
He said it was too early to talk about potential layoffs, because the appeal will take time and he is optimistic Maine Behavioral will ultimately receive the contract.
No reason was given for the state’s decision, he said, pointing out that once the appeal is filed, Maine Behavioral will have access to the proposal submitted by Saco-based Sweetser and the scoring that led to it receiving the contract.
Maine Behavioral has strong ties to the hospitals in the midcoast, including Pen Bay Medical Center in Rockport and Waldo County General Hospital in Belfast. Maine Behavioral manages the psychiatric and recovery unit at Pen Bay, a service that will continue regardless whether the appeal is successful.
Maine Behavioral is part of the MaineHealth network that includes PBMC, Waldo County and the Lincoln Health Miles Campus in Damariscotta.
The contract is for one year and will begin April 1, according to DHHS manager of media relations Samantha Edwards. She said Sweetser also received the contracts for York, Franklin, Oxford and Androscoggin counties.
There is no overall cost of the contract, with expenses dependent on the number of people served.
Stephanie Hanner, communications manager for Sweetser, said Sweetser has a growing presence in the midcoast. Sweetser has a clinic in Rockland, residential units and a school in Belfast that serves young people with behavioral problems.
An advocate for people who need mental health services said she has no concerns with either organization but has a problem with the state’s lack of enforcement of terms of contracts they award.
Simonne Maline, executive director of Consumer Council System of Maine, said the state has for too long not enforced contracts. She said the state’s request for proposals that companies bid on this fall was poorly written.
She said one perfect example of how little has changed despite the contracts is the stated goal of the state to reduce the number of people experiencing mental health crises who have to been seen in the emergency rooms of hospitals. She said it is less costly and generally better for patients to be seen in their homes by mental health workers or someplace else in the community instead of in a hospital emergency room.
That has not changed significantly over the years, she said.
“My concern is it will be the same old, same old,” she said of services provided statewide.
DHHS awarded contracts to Community Health and Counseling for Penobscot and Piscataquis counties; Opportunity Alliance for Cumberland County; Aroostook Mental Health for Aroostook, Hancock and Washington counties; and Crisis and Counseling for Kennebec and Somerset counties.
Edwards said the department stands by the request for proposal and believes it was well written and will yield effective, enforceable contracts.