A non-profit health care provider with more than 30 sites across the state is preparing to replace Ayudantes in Española as the area’s sole state-funded mental health facility.
Presbyterian Medical Services was awarded a state contract Monday to serve as an Española-based community mental health center, Presbyterian Regional Director Larry Martinez confirmed Tuesday. Martinez said Presbyterian was still negotiating the terms of the contract with OptumHealth, the private company that manages the state’s behavioral health system.
“We are working very closely with Optum to assure that people in need of services have them as of today,” Martinez said Tuesday, adding he couldn’t discuss specifics of the contract or what services would be offered.
Ayudantes provides mental health services such as psychosocial rehabilitation and Suboxone treatment. It receives funding from the state Behavioral Health Collaborative, which is funneled through OptumHealth.
Presbyterian, which currently has no location in Española and is not the same organization that runs Española Hospital, has begun communicating with Ayudantes patients to get them services at one of its Santa Fe locations, Martinez said. He wouldn’t give a timetable for when Presbyterian would have an Española location, but he said he expected to know by next week.
Martinez wouldn’t confirm where Presbyterian would operate from in Española, saying plans weren’t finalized. But Ayudantes Executive Director Violanda Nunez said the plan was for Presbyterian to move to the North Riverside Drive location where Ayudantes now operates.
OptumHealth issued a request for proposals for the state contract after Ayudantes announced plans to close its Española location in October, threatening to leave Rio Arriba County without its only state-funded mental health facility.
OptumHealth spokesman Chris Cervini on Monday would not reveal specifics about who responded to the request for proposals or who was awarded the contract. Cervini didn’t return a message for comment Tuesday. The SUN filed a public records request for the information Wednesday (11/25).
Nunez first said Ayudantes would close at the end of October, but the provider later struck a deal with OptumHealth to stay open until Nov. 30.
Nunez cited new state funding rules, problems with getting paid by OptumHealth and the general difficulty of operating in a rural setting for closing. She said Ayudantes also submitted a proposal for the new contract, but it would have been forced to cut back some services in order to stay afloat financially.
Nunez said she hopes Ayudantes will be able to maintain a presence in Española at the old Chamber of Commerce building on Paseo de Oñate. Española Mayor Joseph Maestas has asked Acting City Attorney Paula Maynes to draft an ordinance that would allow the Chamber to sublet that building.
Nunez said she planned to meet Wednesday (11/25) with Acting City Manager Veronica Albin and Mayor Pro Tem Alice Lucero, the Chamber’s executive director.
If Ayudantes could come to an agreement with the Chamber to rent the building, it would continue to serve some Ayudantes patients — Nunez didn’t know exactly how many — who probably wouldn’t be covered by Presbyterian’s contract, Nunez said. Care for those patients, who fall into the Medicaid fee-for-service category, is not currently paid for by the state but with federal funds, she said.
Ayudantes has been in Española for 26 years.
“It’s really sad,” Nunez said. “I’m really hoping that (Presbyterian) can do what we weren’t able to, and that’s maintain services to the community.”