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CMH says Robert Brown crisis residential unit closed after partners withdrew, citing cost
Summary
Community Mental Health reported the Robert Brown crisis residential program closed after partner counties stopped participating and contract costs left Ottawa County paying for unused beds.
Michael Brashears, CEO of Community Mental Health of Ottawa County, told the Ottawa County Board of Commissioners on July 8 that the Robert Brown crisis residential program was closed after partner counties pulled out and operating costs made continued service unsustainable.
The Robert Brown unit provided short-term crisis residential care intended to divert people from psychiatric hospitalization. "It's a temporary place. People go anywhere between three to seven days, a maximum of 14 days," Brashears said. He said the program operated as a six-bed facility run by Hope Network and that Ottawa County had been contracting to prepay two of those beds.
Brashears said Allegan and Muskegon counties initially participated but withdrew at the start of the fiscal year because they had other resources available. He told commissioners the cost to prepay beds at Hope Network was "over $600 a day" and that after reviewing first-quarter spending CMH had spent "over $185,000 on empty beds." He said CMH could instead divert people to other crisis programs that charge about $400 a day and that Holland Hospital has agreed to accept patients into a partial-hospitalization program as an alternative.
Brashears offered to share a staff analysis with the full commission that detailed the fiscal impacts and the decision process. He said CMH believes existing alternatives will allow the agency to continue diverting people from psychiatric hospitalization without maintaining the Robert Brown contract.
No formal action by the board was recorded on the matter during the July 8 meeting; Brashears presented the closure during public comment and the commission asked no formal questions beyond inviting him to send the analysis to the full commission.
The discussion made clear the unit was a contracted, multi-county resource rather than permanent housing, and Brashears said the decision to stop prepaid contracting with Hope Network was by mutual agreement because CMH could not justify the fiscal cost of unused beds.
