Governor says state will maintain mental‑health services while probing contracts and agency practices

Governor, speaking at a press conference, said the state is not cutting mental‑health services while his administration reviews contracts and agency practices and seeks efficiencies.

"We're not cutting any kind of services," the governor said, adding that the administration is reissuing some requests for proposals it believes "wasn't done accurately." He said the state has increased spending on mental health and that total annual spending is in the hundreds of millions of dollars.

The governor described a review of Department of Mental Health operations after leadership changes and departures revealed what he called questionable contracting and billing practices. He said some providers are billing the state at different rates — he cited figures discussed at the event of about $6,700 per patient per month at the high end and $2,700 at the low end — and that the administration is asking why costs vary.

He said the administration's goal is to keep care flowing while ensuring taxpayer money is spent efficiently. "We're going to keep investing more money in mental health and I think it's close to $800,000,000 that we're spending," he said, later adding his belief that state appropriations total about $387,000,000 a year and that the remainder is federal funding.

The governor described personnel changes at the Department of Mental Health, saying the current director has replaced several lieutenants and a chief financial officer and that those personnel moves helped surface concerns. He said the administration will work with the legislature and invited legislative investigations. "Shine a light," he said, describing oversight as part of the response.

Reporters asked whether the review amounted to "another investigation" of the agency; the governor framed the work as audits, contract reviews and potential reprocurement where the RFP process was flawed. He said he would take action if vendors or employees were found to be "cheating Oklahomans," including firing managers or canceling contracts and redeploying funds.

The governor also criticized what he described as close relationships between some vendors and agency leaders, saying such ties can blunt oversight. He noted one nonprofit CEO had reduced a publicly reported salary figure after the administration called attention to it.

The administration indicated it will continue service delivery during the review and will coordinate with the legislature, which has scheduled a select committee to examine aspects of health department operations.

Details on specific contracts, vendors or formal findings were not provided at the press conference.