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Richland County HHS to convert one therapist role to case manager to reduce CCS wait list
Summary
HHS will replace one mental health therapist position with a mental health case manager — a move the department says will reduce the Comprehensive Community Services wait list and be absorbed within the current budget.
Richland County Health and Human Services plans to convert one mental health therapist position to a mental health case manager position to reduce a wait list for Comprehensive Community Services (CCS), the department told the Community and Health Services Standing Committee on May 1.
Trish Clements, director of Richland County Health and Human Services, described the change as a budget-neutral staffing realignment intended to improve service access for CCS consumers. “We currently have two mental health therapists and both of them have left in the last two months,” Clements said. “We are looking to switch one of our mental health therapist positions to be a mental health case manager … and so, really, we were wanting to let you know that we're doing this because this is something that will better serve the consumers and really be able to help us eliminate that wait list.”
Details in the plan: a mental health therapist’s hourly rate was cited at $33.10; a mental health case manager’s hourly rate was cited at $24.96. Clements told the committee the reclassification and new hire would be absorbed within the HHS budget and would allow a new case manager to take roughly 15 CCS cases immediately.
Why it matters: CCS is a Medicaid-billable program that provides community-based services intended to keep people out of more restrictive placements. The department reported 56 individuals currently receiving CCS services and 13 on a waiting list. Committee members asked whether the county could recruit therapists; Clements said recruitment has been difficult and some clinicians opt for private-contracting arrangements that pay more.
Staffing and hiring: Clements said the department has advertised the vacant positions, extended one offer and was awaiting a candidate decision. She also said the department will use exit interviews to learn why staff leave and try to improve retention.
Ending: The committee received the staffing update and the personnel change was presented as an administrative action that the director and county administration are authorized to implement; no separate committee vote was required.
