The Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services is facing significant budget cuts, leading to the reduction or outright cancellation of numerous contracts for mental health services across the state. The department, grappling with a multi-million dollar shortfall, has been forced to make difficult decisions about which programs will continue to receive funding, as reported by KOCO.
According to a report by KOCO, the interim commissioner acknowledged that the agency has been funding more contracts than their budget can sustain, resulting in a non-renewal of more than 300 out of the 800 contracted programs and services reviewed. Joy Sloan, president of the Alliance of Mental Health Providers of Oklahoma, highlighted the ripple effects of these cuts on communities, stating, "It wasn’t a surprise. I suspect that there will be certainly some Oklahomans that lose service because agencies will have to lose that staff.”
In a separate investigation earlier this year, the Legislative Office of Fiscal Transparency (LOFT) discovered unlawful financial practices within the department. As KFOR reported, the department was found to be using current fiscal year budgets to pay for the previous year's invoices. Upon discovery, the department stated that it had immediately ceased the illegal activity.
Adding to the complexity of the situation is the agency's need to rebalance its budget. The ODMHSAS Interim Commissioner Greg Slavonic announced that 312 contract items would not be renewed, 122 would face funding reductions, and 128 would be maintained, as per an article by KGOU. Furthermore, Tree Kelley, Executive Director of the non-profit ‘Parents Helping Parents,’ shared her reaction upon receiving the news of cuts, "I felt like I just got kicked in the stomach, to be honest. I was not expecting it," she told KFOR.
Meanwhile, Zack Stoycoff, of the Healthy Minds Policy Initiative, expressed doubts about the legislature's understanding of the full impact of the cuts, saying, "There's a lot of unanswered questions that the department and that legislators have to get to the bottom of," as per KGOU. The disruption in contracted services is expected to start from the beginning of October, yet the agency has refrained from publishing a list of specific cuts as it is currently navigating discussions with affected vendors.
