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Attorney General Koster announces agreement with Ascension Health to provide $20 million in financial support for new mental health assessment and triage center in Kansas City

–funds from Ascension’s February sale of St. Joseph and St. Mary’s hospitals will be used in Kansas City to serve individuals in a mental-health or substance-abuse-induced crisis–

 

Kansas City, Mo. – Attorney General Koster announced today that he has reached an agreement with Ascension Health, LLC, in which Ascension Health will contribute $20 million over ten years to support a new mental-health assessment and triage center being developed in downtown Kansas City.

 

The $20 million fund represents the proceeds of Ascension’s sale in February 2015 of the St. Joseph’s and St. Mary’s hospitals to Prime Healthcare, a for-profit health care system. Attorney General Koster argued at that time that Ascension, a non-profit health care system, was obligated to reinvest the proceeds of the sale in the Kansas City area, as the hospitals belonged not just to Ascension, but to the entire community. Ascension agreed to set the $20 million aside until Attorney General Koster and Ascension were able to find a use for the funds that both serves the health-care needs of the people of Kansas City and is consistent with Ascension Health’s Catholic mission.

The proposed center is intended to offer triage, stabilization, and referral services for individuals who are experiencing a psychiatric or substance-abuse-induced crisis. It is the product of more than two years of collaboration by representatives of the Missouri Department of Mental Health, the Kansas City Municipal Court, the City of Kansas City, the Missouri Hospital Association, and other community leaders.

The center hopes to alleviate the disproportionate burden that a small population of individuals suffering from mental-health or substance abuse issues places on local police, courts, ambulance, and emergency room services by providing targeted, specialized services to those in need. Those services will include a streamlined admissions process, up to 96 hours of inpatient stabilization services with access to necessary psychiatric medicine, referral to appropriate community resources, and meaningful follow-up.

The facility will be located at 2600 E. 12th St. in a building already owned by the Missouri Department of Mental Health. The City of Kansas City has agreed to assume the cost of renovating the building for the project’s use. The location was chosen in part due to its easy accessibility for law-enforcement and emergency-medical personnel.

“The shortage of quality mental-health care services in Kansas City, especially for the indigent and homeless population, is nothing short of catastrophic,” Koster said. “The assessment and triage center will provide essential services to people who are too often left behind. I appreciate the hard work of the many community leaders, both in the public and private sectors, who put this project together, and I commend Ascension Health and its CEO, Anthony Tersigni, for its agreement to keep resources developed over decades in Kansas City to serve area residents in need.”

“Ascension has a more than 100-year legacy of serving the Kansas City community, and we continue to provide long-term care at three separate area locations,” said Nick Ragone, chief communications and marketing officer for Ascension. “We are pleased to be a partner in the development of the Assessment and Triage Center to improve behavioral health capabilities for the Kansas City community. This effort complements Ascension’s goals of developing a national behavioral health strategy focused on integrating behavioral health initiatives into population health.”

 

Ascension’s annual donation of $2 million per year will represent a substantial portion of the center’s expected budget for the next decade, but the project’s leaders have obtained and continue to solicit additional contributions from other sources to fully fund the center. Project leaders hope to complete their work over the next 12 months and open the center by September 1, 2016.

“This project will return an empty state facility on Prospect to productive use in a way that also will help us to take better care of citizens who need these special services,” Mayor Sly James said.  “Ascension Health, Attorney General Koster, Judge Locascio and Mayor Pro Tem Wagner and other partners have done a great job working together to pull this together.”

“During my 13 years as a Kansas City Municipal Court judge, I frequently see people with mental health and substance abuse problems cycle through the jail and hospital emergency rooms without getting the treatment they need,” said Judge Joseph Locascio.  “I am deeply grateful for Attorney General Koster’s announcement today.  It is a complete game-changer for this population in that it provides major financial backing for a new Kansas City area assessment, triage and treatment referral center.  This crucial resource will be available to our emergency responders to ensure some of our most troubled citizens will be stabilized and referred on for behavioral health treatment services potentially saving millions of taxpayer dollars each year since they will now receive the treatment they need.”

 

“This initiative will enable many more people with mental illness and substance use disorders to get connected to the treatment they need,” said Mark Stringer, Director of the Department of Mental Health.  “This center will help people in crisis avoid frequent encounters with law enforcement, expedite their access to care, and improve public safety. It could literally save lives. It is exciting to see state and local government, law enforcement, courts, and area hospitals come together to create this sorely needed resource for some of Kansas City’s most vulnerable citizens.”

Peggy Schmidt, the CEO of North Kansas City Hospital and district president of the Kansas City Metropolitan Health Care Council, emphasized the value of the crisis center and the importance of the $20 million funding commitment resulting from Koster’s settlement. “There is incredible need in the Kansas City Metropolitan area for additional resources for the initial assessment and triage of individuals with serious behavioral health and substance abuse issues,” Schmidt said. “The hospital community appreciates the leadership, collaboration and dedication of all those involved in the establishment of a Kansas City Area Adult Behavioral Health Assessment and Triage Center. The significant financial support from the Ascension Health System will play an important role in enabling this critical service to become a reality.”

The assessment and triage center was announced in a news conference today outside the facility, with the following participants:

Attorney General Chris Koster; Nick Ragone, Chief Communications and Marketing Officer for Ascension; Kansas City Mayor Sly James; Judge Joseph Locascio, Kansas City Municipal Division, Municipal Judge; Peggy Schmitt, President/CEO, North Kansas City Hospital, and District Council President, Kansas City Metropolitan Healthcare Council; Charlie Shields, President and CEO, Truman Medical Centers, Inc.; and Mark Stringer, Director, Missouri Department of Mental Health.