Community mental health centers present annual reports; centers cite Medicaid as primary payer and pilot CCBHC program

The Public Safety and Criminal Justice Committee of the Indianapolis City-County Council heard annual reports from four community mental health centers on Wednesday evening, covering service volumes, payer mixes, outreach and new programs for 2024.

Dr. Ashley Overly, representing the Sandra Eskenazi Mental Health Center, told the committee that Eskenazi served 14,650 unique Marion County residents and that Medicaid and HIP comprised “over 70% of our payer source.” She said Eskenazi provided $3,600,000 in charity care, took part in 75 outreach events and was selected “as one of eight community mental health centers across the state to help pilot the state’s Medicaid program of the certified community behavioral health clinic, or CCBHC.” Overly also said Eskenazi relocated its opioid treatment program from downtown Meridian Street to the Twin Aire neighborhood and opened a large outpatient clinic on the East Side at Eskenazi Health’s Thomas and Arlene Grama campus.

George Hurd, vice president of behavioral health at Community Health Network, said Community Fairbanks provided 14,144 patient services in 2024 and that “our largest payer source was Medicaid at 58%.” He reported close to 300,000 clinical encounters across Marion County (excluding some acute-care counts), about 5,000 crisis assessments and roughly 11,000 emergency-room behavioral-health assessments. Hurd said his organization recorded nearly $17.5 million in charity-care charges, noting that acute-care billing can drive large charity-care totals.

A representative from Aspire Indiana Health (identified in the report as Anthony) described mobile-clinic work and same‑day access improvements. He said Aspire served roughly 5,130 Marion County residents and highlighted a 42-foot mobile clinic that provided about 1,000 encounters, including primary and behavioral health care, and that the mobile clinic identified two pregnancies during its runs. He said same-day access at the Willowbrook clinic has reduced wait times and that Aspire operates a winter no-barrier shelter with case management and housing navigation services.

Jennifer Disbrow, vice president of community health and social services at Adult & Child, said Adult & Child served 8,788 unique patients, operates in dozens of Marion County schools and provides crisis stabilization and peer-support services. She said Adult & Child is one of the eight designated CCBHCs in Indiana and has launched a “living-room” model crisis stabilization unit that will move to a 24-hour model.

Committee members asked about funding stability, homelessness and service maps. Councilor McGehry asked whether state or federal funding reductions were anticipated; presenters said they were “keenly and acutely concerned about funding” and that cuts could increase charity-care burdens and shift costs to self-pay patients. Councilors requested the centers share a map showing service locations and catchment areas; presenters agreed to provide it to staff for distribution.

The presentations were informational; the committee did not take additional action or a vote on policy items. Materials provided to the committee included each center’s written annual report.

Ending: Committee members thanked the presenters and noted the reports will inform future budget and oversight conversations. Several councilors emphasized continued advocacy for payment parity and the need for data to support funding requests.