Board for developmentally disabled explains case management transition

Representatives from the Cape County Board for Developmentally Disabled and the Missouri Department of Mental Health's Sikeston, Mo., office said as the board takes on targeted case management, there should be no disruption or alteration in services a person is receiving.

"It's a new face, but the services won't change," board executive director Bob Dale said at the first of two public meetings Wednesday at the Cape Girardeau Public Library.

Dale said by providing the case management locally, clients and their families will have increased access to their manager, and managers will have a lighter case load, allowing them to provide more personalized service.

The board hired four case managers Feb. 1, and they have started training and taking on cases from the Sikeston office. Dale said by the end of the process, the board will employ eight case managers to accommodate the estimated 300 clients the board will have. He said he didn't know when the transition would be complete but hopes it will be within six months.

Wednesday's meetings were held to explain the transition and answer questions from the public.

The Sikeston office will help train new managers and offer other support to the board throughout the transition process.

Sikeston office director Terry S. Regenold said while the services won't change with the board, the county will receive additional funding from targeted case management. Through the Sikeston office, when Medicaid and other insurances are billed for case management, the payment check goes to the state. Now that the county board is providing case management, the funds will go to the county. Once operating expenses are subtracted, Regenold said, remaining money could be used to provide mental health services for more people.

Dale said he would like to be able use those funds within three years to start serving some of the 70 county residents on waiting list for developmental disability services.

"We're just getting started, but we'll be working that way as fast as we can," he said.

While some in the crowd at Wednesday's public meeting questioned why the board couldn't use some of its reserve money to provide services now, Dale and other board members said if it started providing services on an ongoing basis, it could use up the reserves within a few years.

Board president Dory Johnson said the board was also restricted on how it could spend public money by the ballot language that created the board in the 1970s.

cbartholomew@semissourian.com

243-8600

Pertinent address:

711 Clark St., Cape Girardeau, MO