Bill proposes changes for mental health and substance abuse treatment regions

MT. PLEASANT — Henry County Disability Services Director with Southeast Iowa Link Access (SEIL) Sarah Berndt expressed a positive opinion of the behavioral health alignment bill which received House approval at the beginning of April.

“That just sunsets regions and then begins the process of building districts with area service organizations managing those districts,” Berndt described the bill.

House File 267.3 seeks to combine 32 local regions charged with overseeing mental health and substance abuse treatment into seven unified districts and puts disability services under the jurisdiction of the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services.

After passing in the House, the bill will head to the senate. If approved by the senate without changing, it will then go to Gov. Kim Reynold’s desk for her signature.

According to Berndt, the districts are not yet finalized, but a district map is supposed to be completed by Aug. 1. Once those are decided, Berndt explained bids for service organizations would be accepted until Dec. 31. While the bill changed multiple times on the topic before exiting the House, the current bill will allow for-profit companies to also make bids to be service providers.

“The Mental Health Agency of the Southeast Iowa Region is going to put in a bid to be an area service organization,” Berndt stated.

While Berndt says the details for the request for proposal (RFP) processes is not yet clear, the Mental Health Agency of the Southeast Iowa Region feels confident in their chances of winning the bid to become a service provider.

As a veteran in her position, Berndt says she remembers moving from a county system to the regional system approximately 10 years ago.

“With each change, there has been positive improvements and this system has gotten better for the individuals and I’m confident that this system also will be better for the folks that struggle with addiction and mental health living in our communities,” Berndt said. “And when they’re done with mental health and behavioral health, they’ll work on public health. So, that’ll probably start in 2025.”

With many possible changes for Iowa Department of Health and Human Services under the leadership of Director Kelly Garcia, Berndt still had positive comments.

“[Garcia] did an excellent job explaining what her path looked like form the day she started until today and the decisions that are behind alignment and efforts they are trying to do to improve HHS as department overall,” Berndt stated. “I thought it was very positive. Even though a lot of stuff seems negative, her vision is positive.”

Comments: AnnaMarie.Ward@southeastiowaunion.com