Iowa Primary Care district leader tells Kossuth County ASO is live, highlights navigation and consolidated contracts

Melissa Lehi, district leader for District 2 with Iowa Primary Care Association, told Kossuth County supervisors that statewide changes to mental-health and substance-abuse administration took effect July 1 and that the association is operating as the administrative service organization (ASO) for the district.

Lehi said Iowa Primary Care consolidated prior regional contracts into a single-state contract to reduce administrative burden and that providers have reported they are receiving payment under the new system. "The payments are working, and so that's really good because that there's a lot of worry," she said, describing provider relief after the transition.

She outlined a system-navigation service for residents and providers: a single call center (Your Life Iowa) that can route callers to district navigators, perform Medicaid and housing application assistance, and provide warm handoffs to mobile crisis or local supports. Lehi noted the public number (Your Life Iowa) is (855) 581-8111 and is tied to the statewide 988/ crisis routing for after-hours crisis work; navigators operate primarily during business hours and perform closed-loop follow-up.

Lehi described workforce and placement plans for navigators (a goal of roughly 60 across the state), the ASO’s pharmacy and recovery consultation services, and an ongoing district assessment to identify needs and gaps. She said the ASO will partner with county and state agencies and urged supervisors to connect local navigators with law enforcement and social-service partners to improve local coordination.

The presentation was largely informational; supervisors asked follow-up questions about transport reimbursement for commitments and how substance-abuse funding still flows through county mechanisms for certain services under current Iowa Code language.