Gee, I wonder what the Chris Abeleadministration is trying to cover up now?
The county’s auditor, who works inthe independent county comptroller’s office, has been trying to work on a five-year follow-upto a 2010 report it had issued on the Behavioral Health Division’s patient andstaff safety.
The problem is that the Chris Abeleadministration apparently isn’t releasing all of the information needed to conduct theaudit, according to a March 22 memo writtenby County Auditor Jerome Heer.
The Abele administration apparently isclaiming that there would be legal repercussions if they release certain informationto Heer. But as Heer notes, he and the audit manager “collectively have over 70years of experience in auditing sensitive information and we have never had aproblem.”
Indeed—this report is a follow-up tothe 2010 county audit titled “SystemChanges Are Needed to Help Ensure Patient and Staff Safety at the MilwaukeeCounty Behavioral Health Division.” The Milwaukee Board of Supervisorsrequested the follow-up audit in spring 2015, and Abele himself signed theresolution in April 2015.
Now, it seems, the Abeleadministration has had a change of heart.
Heer’s memo details the multipleefforts he made to work on the audit, going back to an initial planning meetingwith BHD management in September 2015. In October, Heer became aware of “recordrestrictions.” In December, BHD management gave Heer “an August 2015 legalopinion obtained from the private law firm regarding the discretion for theMedical Director to allow us access to medical records,” the memo states.
Note that the August legal opinionwas sought and crafted before Heer sat down with BHD management in September.
Since then, the auditors have had anumber of meetings and requests for information, but they have been rebuffedeach time when requesting some specific data sets, the memo states, notably, incident reports.
For example, in February 2016, Heerwas given an opinion from the county’s corporation counsel “with the conclusionthat BHD is within its legal rights and has discretionary authority to release(or not release) incident reports,” the memo states.
According to the memo, BHD’smedical director says that he needs to review the matter before the appointedMental Health Board at its April7 executive committee meeting—conveniently held two days after the electionfor Milwaukee County executive, where Abele is facing a stiff challenge fromstate Sen. Chris Larson.
I reached out to BHD spokeswomanKimberly Kane, who sent this comment from Hector Colon:
The County’s audit process is anextremely thorough practice. Since the patient and staff safety audit beganlast fall, the Behavioral Health Division’s leadership has systematicallycomplied with the auditors’ requests. Additionally, BHD is also participatingin the audit just begun by the State Legislative Audit Bureau pursuant to Act203.
In Mr. Heer's memo datedMarch 22, 2016, the auditors acknowledge the importance of protecting patientsafety and confidentiality and that state and federal law provide theBehavioral Health Division’s Medical Director, Dr. John Schneider, theauthority to determine what confidential, legally-protected patientinformation can be shared. The auditors also acknowledge the importance of hisprofessional judgment. When Dr. Schneider makes a determination on whatinformation can be shared we will do so in the most open and transparent waypossible under the law.
Bottom line, we believe in thevalue and the power of transparency. Transparency about past problems gave ourcommunity the courage to transform our behavioral health care system – aprocess well underway today. Patient safety and confidentiality are at theheart of this matter and we are not willing to risk these.
Board Chair Theo Lipscomb told methat the withholding of information shows just how opaque the county’sBehavioral Health Division has become now that it no longer reports to thecounty board and is under the purview of the appointed Mental Health Board andAbele’s administration.
“One of the premises behind theMental Health Board was to take politics out of this and because of concernsover patient safety and yet here we are,” Lipscomb told me. “They have noinformation about it and the administration is being allowed to block thatinformation from being provided, not just to the public but to them. How canyou possibly provide oversight and be assured that you have quality care in thefacility if you don’t have this basic information?”
Thursday’s Mental Health Board Meeting
Also worth noting are the changesmade to the Mental Health Board’s public meeting on Thursday, March 24—thatwould be tomorrow—to discuss the 2017 budget.
It’s one of the few opportunitiesMilwaukeeans have to discuss their concerns about the county’s mental health services.If you’ve been following along, the Mental Health Board only allows publictestimony when invited, and it only issues those invitations a few times ayear.
The Mental Health Board has changedthe location of tomorrow’s meeting. The updatedagenda on the Mental Health Board’s website shows that the meeting will beheld on Thursday, March 24, at 4:30 p.m.at the Hillside Terrace Family Resource Center, 1452 N. Seventh Street. Themeeting was to have been held at the nearby Sojourner Family Peace Center.Apparently staff will be redirecting members of the public to the new locationin case there’s a mix-up. See you there.
