Contract termination letters sent out to Tulsa County mental health providers

As we navigate these complex and concerning contracting issues, our priority remains clear: protecting access to care for Oklahomans who depend on these services. We are grateful to the Governor for recognizing the critical importance of ensuring a clear path forward for uninterrupted critical mental health services across the state and are grateful for his reiteration that we are not and will not terminate any core service contracts. 
We understand the confusion caused by recent events and are working closely with OMES and our community partners to implement a contractual stopgap. This issue is entirely unrelated to funding gaps or contract optimization. Our commitment to delivering high-quality behavioral health services remains strong as we work toward lasting solutions and operational excellence.

We received an email today from the Oklahoma Office of Management & Enterprise Services (OMES) that our Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinic (CCBHC) status in Tulsa County is terminated effective May 10th. This comes just 8 days after a press release was issued from the Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services (ODMHSAS) that all CCBHC funding was being frozen until we could provide more insight into our financial standing. No formal notice was provided explaining the reason for freezing our funding, and no forewarning was provided related to the termination of our services in Tulsa County. While we remain willing to collaborate with the state to better understand these actions, our first concern is for the over 53,000 Oklahomans served through our Tulsa office who will immediately lose their current mental health and addiction treatment services, and those unable to access future services. This includes those in our community experiencing homelessness and other underserved Tulsa populations, as well as public school students, law enforcement officials, first responders, community partners and more. The greater bearing on the Tulsa community will be significant – both in the loss of social services - including the immediate closing of our Tulsa Urgent Recovery Center and our Tulsa Addiction Recovery Center, a 250-bed residential addiction treatment center (the largest in the state) - and in economic impact, as we currently employ over 600 staff members in Tulsa. We have been in communication with ODMHSAS to resolve this matter but, at the time of this notice, we have not received formal resolution. As we are working toward a hopeful resolution, we continue to offer our full array of services in Tulsa through the May 10th contract termination date.

We have reached out to state officials for clarification about our CCBHC contract status. While we await further information, we will continue to provide these vital services without disruption. We are communicating with the Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services, as well the Office of Management and Enterprises Services, to learn more about this situation.

“We have served the Tulsa metro area for more than 40 years, and we look forward to continuing this important work in our community. The Oklahomans who need our services rely on us to provide high-quality care and we will continue to deliver nothing less as we work through this contractual issue. Our patients always come first.

We have received assurances there will be no interruption in CCBHC services while a new method of contract procurement is developed.