The construction remodeling at Juniper Ridge Acute Care Center, an inpatient psychiatric facility in John Day, is nearly complete.

Community Counseling Solutions CEO Kimberly Lindsay said during a June 9 session of the county court that a few more things would require some “final tweaking” by the contractor.

She told the court members the facility could have up to 10 new patients in roughly two weeks.

She said the contractors originally planned to have the project completed in early April, but construction took longer than expected.

In November, in the face of financial losses, Juniper Ridge shut down and laid off four nurses with plans to shift to a secure residential treatment facility.

This year, the plan at the facility was to begin taking patients downgraded from acute psychiatric care from the Oregon State Hospital in Junction City.

Lindsay said the patients, deemed stable and no longer a danger to themselves or others, will be at Juniper Ridge for six months.

The funding to update the facility to secure residential treatment came through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act.

She said Juniper Ridge has been short-staffed and needs two resident associates. Lindsay said when the facility shifted to a secure residential treatment center, two qualified mental health associate positions opened up and they promoted two residential associates to those positions.

Housing woes hit CCS

County Judge Scott Myers asked if the lack of housing in the county had prevented CCS from filling positions. She said the psychiatric nurse practitioner they hired could not find a place to live, but CCS ended up retaining him, allowing him to work remotely. However, she said, he and his family did not move here.

When asked if telehealth visits diminish the quality of care a patient receives, Lindsay said the practitioner’s patients would say they feel great about the quality of service.

Lindsay said the general consensus is that telehealth is just as productive for patients. However, she said something is lost when the visit is not in person.

“I think that we should strive for in person whenever possible,” she said.

Lindsay said it ultimately is about giving the patient a choice.

“What’s best is choice,” she said. “And he’s an excellent provider. But we don’t have choice; we just have telehealth.”

Lindsay said that CCS had an established relationship with the provider. She said he initially rented for nine months, but the goal was for his family to move with him to Grant County. She said it did not make sense to cut ties with him and go with an unknown telehealth provider.

CCS passes reviews Lindsay said that the health department passed its early assessment and support alliance review. She said the state requires health departments to participate in the ESA program and that there are funding streams attached to the health department’s use of the program.

Lindsay said CCS and the health department did well on Oregon behavioral health metrics.

Lindsay said they review encounter data to ensure that medical providers and staff enter billable codes on the insurance claims.

She said the auditors are also verifying that the diagnosis matches the length of time and description written in the notes.

Essentially, she said, what the auditors are looking for when they audit encounter data is any semblance of fraud and that the treatment fits the diagnosis. Lindsay said they are also ensuring that the care they are providing is appropriate.

“We passed the audit,” she said. “And we did very well.”

She told the court, while the auditors did have administrative findings, six altogether, none of them were fraudulent.