News photo by Kayla Wikaryasz On Thursday, the NeMCMH board and leadership team met for their regular monthly meeting in Alpena.

ALPENA — The Northeast Michigan Community Mental Health Authority (NeMCMH) leadership team reported on Thursday that the department’s lawsuit against the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services’ (MDHHS) was successful in pulling MDHHS’ controversial Request for Proposal (RFP), which would have stripped NeMCMH of its statutory obligations.

MDHHS officially pulled the RFP on Jan. 29.

NeMCMH, in partnership with other CMHs in Northern Michigan, partnered to sue MDHHS after the state circumvented the legislative process and attempted to restructure the funding process for Pre-Paid Inpatient Health Plan (PIHP) regions. NeMCMH encompasses one of 10 PIHP regions in the state.

Under the MDHHS RFP, current PIHPs were not allowed to bid for services.

Sork said the proposal would have stripped NeMCMH of its”statutory obligations,” which the mental health code requires NeMCMH to perform. This is because the authority would have had to contract services out to private entities who do not exist in Northeast Michigan.

“So things that are in the mental health code that by law we must do, that went through the legislative process and became law, this RFP would strip us of those obligations,” Sork told The News in November. “We believe that it’s illegal the way the RFP is out there now, that they could do that.”

Sork said that if the RFP was successful, NeMCMH would still have to perform its services as dictated in the mental health code, despite MDHHS barring the authority from bidding on the RFP. This would have forced mental health authorities to provide services through private organizations, though regions like Northeast Michigan are not equipped with those resources.

Dana Labar, NeMCMH board member from Presque Isle, commended the leadership team for taking on the state and succeeding.

“I am really proud of our director, and the three or four directors, for taking on the state, for stopping the privatization of community mental health which is exactly what this was trying to do,” Labar said.

“The thing that strikes me is our rural CMHs and their directors have made incredible contributions to this whole process,” Labar added. “Really standing up for what we do and for our consumers.”

Sork told board members that this is the third or fourth attempt that MDHHS has tried to privatize community mental health care and that the state will likely attempt again.

“We know we’ve won the battle, but we’re still in the war,” Sork said. “There’s going to be another effort.”

Sork said that the issue with privatizing community mental health goes beyond funding and disconnects caregivers from patients.

“My staff was heartbroken … they know if this gets privatized, what’s going to happen to Mike?” Sork asked. “Because we take care of Mike and what’s going to happen to this community when Mike isn’t stable? What’s going to happen to the jails when nobody’s there to manage their symptoms?”

Sork explained that in the “public system” there is no “code for three quarters of what we do in the private system.”

She added that in the CMH system, especially in rural communities, caregivers are able to have direct contact with patients, which leads to better care.

“That’s what makes our staff so fabulous,” Sork said. “They know each person and they care about them.”

NeMCMH partnered with the following community mental health authorities and county governments to sue MDHHS:

— Centra Wellness Network, which serves Manistee and Benzie counties.

— Wellvance, which serves Iosco, Ogemaw, and Oscoda counties.

— Gogebic Community Mental Health, which serves Gogebic County.

— North County Community Mental Health, which serves Emmett, Cheboygan, Charlevoix, Otsego, Antrim, and Kalkaska counties.

— Manistee County Commissioners

NeMCMH serves Alpena, Alcona, Montmorency, and Presque Isle counties.

Kayla Wikaryasz can be reached at 989-358-5688 or kwikaryasz@TheAlpenaNews.com.