Critics accuse state of overpaying to run mental health facility

~ The state needed immediate help in addressing accusations of patient mistreatment.

ST. LOUIS -- Critics of a proposal to shutter a state mental health facility say the state has overpaid a Pennsylvania company to help run it.

The Columbus Organization has had a contract with the Department of Mental Health that allows it to charge the state up to $12 million to advise and staff the Bellefontaine Habilitation Center in St. Louis County.

The state signed the contract in October 2004 -- two months after a patient died shortly after telling family members that employees at the facility were attacking him.

A spokesman for the Department of Mental Health told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that the state signed a no-bid contract with the company because it needed immediate help in addressing accusations of patient mistreatment at the facility to avoid losing federal funding.

"We needed assistance, we needed it quickly," Bob Bax said. "And to bid a contract and enter into a contract takes time -- it takes months, sometimes longer."

Representatives from the Pennsylvania company did not return calls seeking comment.

Since taking office in 2005, Gov. Matt Blunt has called for closing the facility, citing questions about patient mistreatment and excessive cost.

Critics of the plan, including a Bellefontaine parents group, say the state could lower costs by cutting ties with the Columbus Organization or at least putting its contract up for competitive bidding.

The state used the exact terms from Columbus' contracts with Indiana and California in 2004. Some critics have said this isn't fair to Missouri because health-care costs are higher in these states. In December 2004, the Department of Mental Health extended the contract with the company to include all of the state's mental health facilities.

State Auditor Claire McCaskill said there is no way to know whether the terms of the contract are reasonable without competitive bidding.

The contract requires the state to pay client protection specialists $700 per day and a program director $1,100. The contract also allows for higher-paid consultants to move into slots previously occupied by state workers. For example, a state facility superintendent makes $75,000 a year, but according to bills already submitted to the state, a consultant from Columbus in that slot would make $220,000, with $1,000 per month for housing and other expenses, the Post-Dispatch reported.

The director for the entire Mental Health Department makes $103,000 annually.

Bax said consultants from the Columbus Organization are expensive but have done a lot to help the facility.

"They are expensive," he said. "They provide the experience and expertise that we needed. They have done a good job."

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Information from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch: http://www.stltoday.com