FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Stuart Seaborn
Disability Rights California
Phone: (916) 488-9950
E-Mail: Stuart.Seaborn@disabilityrightsca.org

Melinda Bird
Disability Rights California
Phone: (323) 997-3235

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Agreement Reached: Sacramento County’s outpatient mental health services to stay in place until June 30, 2011, while expert looks at ways to provide quality services

Sacramento, CA – Full Contact Information:

Disability Rights California: Melinda Bird (323) 997-3235 or Stuart Seaborn (916) 488-9950
Western Center on Law and Poverty: Robert Newman (213) 487-7211 ext. 19

Disability Rights California, the Western Center on Law and Poverty and Cooley LLP announced that an interim agreement has been reached with the County of Sacramento in a suit filed on behalf of thousands of people who are served by the County’s outpatient mental health program. These critical services help mental health consumers maintain active lives in their communities and avoid being hospitalized.

The agreement spells out that the County will continue to use the existing providers of outpatient services to adult Medi-Cal recipients and will maintain the current level of services until at least June 30, 2011, the end of the County’s fiscal year. In the interim period, the County intends to hire an expert “in adult outpatient mental health service delivery systems” to evaluate the current system and make recommendations.

The suit, Napper v. County of Sacramento, et al., was filed in May in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of California. The suit alleged that the County’s plan to terminate outpatient mental health services violated federal and state laws, including the Americans with Disabilities Act, by placing thousands of mental health consumers at risk of unnecessary institutionalization. In July, District Judge Mendez issued a preliminary injunction preventing the County from ending its longstanding contracts with non-profit providers and opening its own clinics to provide these services. The parties have been in settlement discussions since that time.

Although the parties did not resolve the case, their interim agreement acknowledges that they have shared interests in a “commitment to serve the needs of mental health clients in Sacramento County”; a “commitment to follow the recovery model of outpatient mental health services”; and a “recognition that it is desirable to operate and maintain a County mental health system that maximizes available revenue sources.”

As a part of the interim agreement, the county’s expert will:

* Review the current adult outpatient mental health service delivery system in Sacramento County to identify the strengths and weaknesses of that system as they apply to the delivery of services to the adult Medi-Cal outpatient mental health consumer;
* Review and assess the effectiveness and capacity of the adult mental health outpatient system; and
* Assess the feasibility of alternative adult outpatient mental health service delivery modalities, to identify the fiscal impacts of any alternatives that may be identified, and to assess any transition issues, including but not limited to the transaction costs associated with changing or eliminating providers, that would need to be addressed should the existing system be modified based on the expert’s review and assessment.

Leslie Napper, the lead plaintiff in the case, said, “I am glad the interim agreement will keep these necessary services in place while both sides try to work out a resolution. Without a doubt, these services have improved my life and the lives of countless others.”

Read a history of the case and follow updates: http://disabilityrightsca.org/advocacy/Napper/index.htm

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Disability Rights California was founded in 1978 as California’s protection and advocacy system to provide direct assistance to people with disabilities in implementing their rights. The Western Center on Law and Poverty, founded in 1967, works statewide for system-wide change to secure housing, health care and a strong safety net for low-income Californians. Cooley LLP, a nationwide, full-service law firm that received the 2009 State Bar of California’s President’s Pro Bono Service Award, is assisting in this case on a pro bono basis.