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Deal increases pay for psych reports
Photo by Michael J. GallegosTribune
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Probation officer Brian Lakes talks with a 12-year-old resident at the Bernalillo County Juvenile Detention Center. Counseling services are key to the state's new plan to help rehabilitate young offenders, and Bernalillo County's program has received high marks. But judges and others say services are hard to find for a population that must have them if they are to emerge from jail as more productive members of society.
Photo by Michael J. GallegosTribune
Tribune
A resident takes advantage of free time to watch TV after class at the Bernalillo County Juvenile Detention Center.
Photo by Michael J. GallegosTribune
Tribune
Teens wait their turn at bat on a rain-soaked field at the Bernalillo County Juvenile Detention Center. Teens housed there are kept in groups throughout the day and move from place to place as a unit.
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A financial fallout over psychological services that could have caused an even greater backlog at the juvenile courts appears to have been averted for now.
But the near breakdown in how amenability studies are performed - and by whom - provides a glimpse at the fragile, complex and often underfunded nature of New Mexico's juvenile justice system.
The issue stems from the cost paid by the state for amenability studies, which can sway a judge's decision on whether to sentence a juvenile as a juvenile or to sanction him or her as an adult.
The report involves an exhaustive forensic psychological evaluation that examines the child's potential for rehabilitation. One report takes a minimum of 20 hours and requires numerous interviews, investigations, documents and testing.
A study also often requires additional time to testify at trial.
In Bernalillo County, the state's most populous area, amenability studies are performed for the courts by one forensic psychologist: Luis Vargas of the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center.
Recently, however, UNM balked at the $700 reimbursement rate it was receiving for each amenability study through its contract with behavioral health care manager Value Options for the state Children, Youth and Families Department.
The rate amounts to $35 an hour, or substantially less if the study requires more than 20 hours to complete, which Vargas said is often the case.
That's a bargain basement price for the services of a forensic psychologist, who on the open market can charge $150 per hour and often far more than that.
"Part of the issue is the reimbursement rate for the last 13 years has not changed," Vargas said. "UNM has eaten the cost for years. But it simply cannot do that forever."
Negotiations between UNM, Value Options and CYFD did not go well initially, and UNM threatened to walk away from renewing its contract.
Last month, however, an agreement was reached that would raise the rate for every amenability study to $1,000 for all providers across the state, including UNM.
In addition, the state is looking for other providers to perform competency evaluations, which are less intensive than amenability studies, to lessen the burden on psychologists such as Vargas.
"I won't deny there was some miscommunication early on, but that has been cleared up, and we are working very well on this," said Marisol Atkins, deputy Cabinet secretary for programs at CYFD.
"We don't want the courts to be without this service, because the kids need it," she said. "This will help because we have a waiting list already as far as these services."
UNM has agreed to stay on and work with Children, Youth and Families, UNM Health Sciences Center spokesman Luke Frank said.
"We're very comfortable with the process now and pleased that it is ongoing," he said.
Atkins said, however, that the fix is only temporary
"This is for the rest of the fiscal year," she said. "We all recognize this is not a long-term solution. But they (UNM) are committed to working with us and the courts to prevent a break in service but also to look at what is the best practice to deliver this service."
