FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Date: March 08 2024
Contact: Jon Ebelt, Communications Director, DPHHS, (406) 444-0936, (406) 461-3757
jebelt@mt.gov
DPHHS Launches $7.5M Program to Address Court-Ordered Forensic Fitness Evaluation Backlog
Agency will compensate community-based providers for performing evaluations and related stabilization services
Department of Public Health and Human Services (DPHHS) Director Charlie Brereton today announced the launch of a new process to compensate local providers for community-based court-ordered forensic fitness evaluations (COEs) and related stabilization and restoration services.
“Increasing access to forensic fitness evaluations in the community and reducing reliance on the Montana State Hospital as the sole provider for these services have been priorities for DPHHS, the Legislature, and Governor Gianforte’s administration,” Dir. Brereton said. “This pilot initiative provides the judicial system with the option of utilizing local community providers to conduct these services when appropriate.”
The Community-Based COE and Stabilization near-term initiative (NTI) launched on March 8, 2024 after receiving approval from Governor Greg Gianforte and the Behavioral Health System for Future Generations Commission (BHSFG).
A total of $7.5 million in state funds is now available to incentivize community-based COEs and stabilization and restoration services to address a longstanding backlog in evaluations at the Montana State Hospital Forensic Mental Health Facility (FMHF, also known as Galen).
There have historically been very few options for performing COEs prior to this new process. To date, most evaluations have been conducted by one psychiatrist at the FMHF. The lack of options to conduct COEs locally has been, in part, driven by lack of available state funding and confusion regarding funding sources and eligibility, among various other factors.
DPHHS has prepared a detailed summary that outlines the new process from the time a judge issues a COE to be conducted in the community to when a provider submits a claim for reimbursement.
Under this new process, a County Attorney may request that a judge specify that a COE be completed locally. A court official will notify the County Attorney when an order granting their request for a community-based COE has been issued. The County Attorney’s office will then complete an online notification form apprising DPHHS of the court-ordered evaluation.
The form will allow the County Attorney’s office to select from a list of providers currently performing these services. This notification form also captures all the information that DPHHS will later need to ensure that the provider selected by the County Attorney’s office is compensated for conducting the COE.
These community-based COEs can occur in jails, the provider’s office, in private hospitals, other community-settings, or via telehealth. The County Attorney will complete an online attestation form once the COE is completed that allows the provider to bill DPHHS.
The services required to restore a defendant can vary significantly in scope. While many of these services require commitment to the FMHF, some reimbursable community-based stabilization and restoration services may be utilized in non-FMHF settings if the specific nature of a defendant’s needs can be met in the community.
DPHHS has conducted outreach with providers to verify their willingness to participate in this new process and describe how they may be reimbursed for COEs and stabilization and restoration services in the community. DPHHS has sent an instructional memorandum to County Attorneys and will also continue its communications with the judiciary.
On May 22, 2023, Governor Greg Gianforte made a generational investment to reform and improve Montana’s behavioral health and developmental disabilities service systems by signing House Bill 872 into law. A central component of the governor’s Budget for Montana Families, this $300 million investment will expand intensive and community-based behavioral health care and developmental disabilities services across Montana.
For more information, visit futuregenerations.mt.gov.