On June 24, New Mexico's announced that an found "" for that provide mental health and substance abuse treatment to approximately .
Medicaid funding was immediately suspended, the audit was turned over to the state's to conduct a criminal investigation, and were given emergency, no-bid contracts to take over the New Mexico organizations and their patients.
The state's Human Services Department maintains that the transition is smooth.
鈥淲e have two crisis hotlines for folks to call that we monitor on a daily basis in case they feel like they're having additional troubles,鈥� said of the New Mexico Human Services Department, in an interview conducted by Phoenix.
Kennicott was unavailable to speak with
鈥淲e're able to move in with additional support whether that be payroll or one of the transition agencies, to make sure that folks are still receiving the care they're entitled to," Kennicott said.
鈥淣o, it鈥檚 not a smooth transition,鈥� said Paul Weeks, a therapist with in Los Lunas, N.M. which is now being run by of Phoenix. 鈥淭he agency right now is very chaotic. All of the scheduled clients that I had have been taken off. There鈥檚 no schedule, there鈥檚 no computer, there鈥檚 nothing.鈥�
When Weeks said there鈥檚 no computer, he means no computer. Anywhere. They were all removed by Valencia management when the new Arizona firm came in. Because of that, all assessments and intakes are now being done by hand.
鈥淪o the assessments take approximately two hours to complete,鈥� Weeks said. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 an assessment and a treatment plan. We have three, three and a half therapists there, doing assessments, and generously we can do five assessments in a day.鈥�
Five assessments a day for about 2,000 clients that need to get back in the doors. At Valencia, many clients are extremely fragile: they鈥檙e homeless, or suffering from PTSD, anxiety disorders, or drug addictions
鈥淲e鈥檙e having a hard time getting Neil a therapist,鈥� said Gay Finlayson of Albuquerque. Neil, her 24-year-old son, has . 鈥淗e was seeing a therapist at who quit around the time of the takeover and then we were just told that we would be getting a phone call about a new therapist and haven鈥檛 heard anything.鈥�
Hogares was one of the agencies accused of fraud and subsequently taken over.
鈥淗e counts his medication and told me 鈥業 have enough pills for so many days,鈥� and then asks me a lot about is he going to go into the hospital,鈥� said Finlayson. 鈥淲e were assured that 鈥榶ou鈥檒l be taken care of,鈥� and so far we鈥檝e heard nothing.鈥�
There also seem to be problems for people receiving services from agencies that have not had their funds frozen by the state. has two children receiving behavioral health counseling in Albuquerque.
鈥淪ervices have been so disrupted in the agencies that are involved in the audit that overflow patients 鈥� patients who can鈥檛 get their needs met at the audited agencies 鈥� are filling up the other agencies, making services really difficult to get for everyone,鈥� Jones said.
The state's Department of Health says New Mexico already has a of mental health workers as it is.
鈥淪o we鈥檝e gone from crisis, to emergency red status,鈥� Jones said. 鈥淵ou know, fly the flags upside down, somebody help us.鈥�
There鈥檚 one other thing about the audit that accuses the behavioral health agencies of fraud: nobody except the state's Human Services Department, Attorney General, and State Auditor . Not even those accused of fraud.
News organizations in the state, including 91暗网 partner New Mexico In Depth, have to have the full paperwork released.
NOTE: This article was produced in collaboration with .
