County staff seek opioid-settlement and treatment-sales-tax funds to keep mobile psychiatric prescriber in service

County staff and service partners told Mason County commissioners on Sept. 29 they want to preserve a psychiatric prescriber position embedded in the county's mobile integrated health teams.

Travis (county staff) and program leaders described a part-time psychiatric ARNP (referred to in discussion as Christie/Christy) who has worked in both the north and south ends of the county and who provides substance-use treatment, psychiatric assessment, school outreach and weekly jail visits to help stabilize people and link them to medication and follow-up care. Program leaders said the position has produced measurable reductions in 911 calls for some clients and provides a hub for other county and partner services.

Staff said two local funding sources that have supported the position are set to expire: $75,000 from the county's treatment-sales-tax allocation and roughly $150,000 from opioid-settlement funding that is scheduled to end next year. Commissioners and staff discussed multi-year funding windows and the value of seeking partnerships with hospitals, managed-care organizations and the state's Office of Public Defense and rural fellowships. One commissioner proposed three-year funding windows for county seed dollars to allow projects to demonstrate sustainable funding. Program staff described ongoing efforts to bill insurers and to pursue partnerships with Mason General and regional networks; they also said billing rates from private insurers have been low relative to the program's costs.

Staff asked the commission to consider continuing the program using available settlement and treatment-tax dollars while seeking sustainable third-party partners. During the briefing a program representative described the clinical scope: "She can diagnose, prescribe, and administer medications," and staff said that prescriptive authority has been central to sustaining clients on medication-assisted treatment.

What happens next: staff flagged the impending funding lapse and asked commissioners to consider short-term extensions (examples discussed: one- to three-year windows) while staff pursues insurance and hospital-district partnerships and other grant sources. No formal appropriation or motion was made at the briefing.

Provenance: reporter's summary uses the discussion recorded from 01:12:14 to 01:31:32; see excerpt: "She can diagnose, prescribe, and administer medications." (Program representative, 01:19:19).