7/30/2019 CSB 2012 FINAL-DBHDS Commissioner-Nvtc-12!14!12 (3)[1]

1/2

.where change is possible

Bill TraceyChairman

Tom GeibExecutive Director

December 14, 2012

Mr. James StewartCommissionerDepartment of Behavioral Health and Developmental ServicesPost Office Box 1797Richmond, Virginia 23218-1797

Dear Commissioner Stewart:

Under the provisions of the Consent Decree created by the Commonwealth of Virginia and theUnited States Department of Justice all but one of Virginias training centers will be phased outby 2020. Of particular concern to the Arlington, Fairfax and Prince William CountyCommunity Services Boards is the policy related to the closing of the Northern VirginiaTraining Center (NVTC) on June 30, 2015.

The Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services (DBHDS) has established apolicy that residents remaining in a training center within three months of the target closuredate of that training center will be transferred to another training center that is still open. Theresidents remaining most likely will be those residents most medically fragile, or with more

difficult behaviors and could most likely be the hardest to place.

The CSBs have a strong concern that this policy may result in the residents most in need andbenefiting from close family involvement being separated from their home communities andfamilies thereby causing undue hardship and emotional stress on both the residents and theirfamily members.

Our concerns are twofold: 1) Adequate funding has yet to be appropriated by the GeneralAssembly; 2) Time necessary to open new homes will exceed the 2015 deadline.

We are aware of the lack of sufficient private vendor capacity in Health Planning Region(HPR) II to provide the additional intensive services needed before the closing date.

Placement in the community is a time consuming process even when such services are readilyavailable and sufficient facilities are not yet available in HPR II to match the need. Alsocurrent Medicaid reimbursement for day support and residential services are not adequate tocover the costs of services and adversely effects provider capacity in this area. Discussionsrelated to appropriate medical care with established vendors reveals that the skill andspecialization levels are not currently being provided and are likely to be expensive.

The Vision of the Prince William County Community Services Board is:We will be a creative and responsive leader for Behavioral Healthcare in partnership with the Greater Prince William Community to promote an excellent place

in which to live, work, invest and grow.An Equal Opportunity Employer

COUNTY OF PRINCE WILLIAMCOMMUNITY SERVICES BOARD

8033 Ashton Avenue, Suite 103Manassas, Virginia 20109-2892

(703) 792-7705 Metro 631-1703 Ext. 7705Fax: 792-7704 www.pwcgov.org/csb

http://www.pwcgov.org/csbhttp://www.pwcgov.org/csb

7/30/2019 CSB 2012 FINAL-DBHDS Commissioner-Nvtc-12!14!12 (3)[1]

2/2

We feel it was erroneous for DBHDS to flatly say if discharge planning was not successful, anda community home not chosen, individuals residing in a training center that is scheduled forclosure will be transferred to another state-operated training center and leaving no otheroption. Many things have to be accomplished before all the training center residents can betransferred to a community based support system. Further, we do not know if qualifiedvendors will come forth to build and staff community homes in time particularly when sufficientfunding by the General Assembly has not been appropriated.

We are requesting the DBHDS be prepared to revisit and refine the timeline to close NVTC

and, if necessary, secure necessary additional funding from the General Assembly. Residentsand families need an adequate funding allocation for community placement; a discharge planthat matches them to specific service providers with a time-certain start date. If a significantnumber of residents have start dates past June 2015 we want DBHDS to be able to modify theclosing date to prevent unnecessary moves due to inadequate funding and/or lack ofappropriate community placement because of no fault of the resident or their family.

It is paramount that sufficient funding and all support necessary to ensure provider capacity inthe HPR II region is on hand and capable of providing the level and quality of care required byeach current individual resident. It is equally important that Residential and Day Supportproviders can realistically commit to opening their programs to serve the residents in time tomeet the established closing date. Our Boards and the staff are all committed to investing the

time and energy necessary to achieving DBHDSs objective. Without these accomplishments,which rest with DBHDS, the CSBs and the providers, it would be a very questionable decisionnot to modify the NVTC closing date. Until we can together promise residents of NVTC andtheir families that funding and new homes will be open by June 2015 they need to know thetimeline will be reviewed and revised.

Sincerely, Sincerely, Sincerely,

Jim Mack Mark Sites William Tracey

Chairman Chairman ChairmanArlington County Fairfax-Falls Church Prince William CountyCommunity Services Board Community Services Board Community Services Board

The Vision of the Prince William County Community Services Board is:We will be a creative and responsive leader for Behavioral Healthcare in partnership with the Greater Prince William Community to promote an excellent place

in which to live, work, invest and grow.An Equal Opportunity Employer