DPHHS Launches $7.5M Program to Address Court-Ordered Forensic Fitness Evaluation Backlog
Agency will compensate community-based providers for performing evaluations and related stabilization services
By Denise Rivette
The Department of Public Health and Human Services (DPHHS) put out a press release today announcing the launch of a new process to compensate local providers for community-based court-ordered forensic fitness evaluations (COEs) and related stabilization and restoration services.
“Increasing access to forensic fitness evaluations in the community and reducing reliance on the Montana State Hospital as the sole provider for these services have been priorities for DPHHS, the Legislature, and Governor Gianforte’s administration,” DPHHS Director Charlie Brereton said. “This pilot initiative provides the judicial system with the option of utilizing local community providers to conduct these services when appropriate.”
The Community-Based COE and Stabilization near-term initiative (NTI) launched on March 8, 2024 after receiving approval from Governor Greg Gianforte and the Behavioral Health System for Future Generations Commission (BHSFG).
The release went on to state a total of $7.5 million in state funds is now available to incentivize community-based COEs and stabilization and restoration services to address a longstanding backlog in evaluations at the Montana State Hospital Forensic Mental Health Facility (FMHF, also known as Galen).
There have historically been very few options for performing COEs prior to this new process. To date, most evaluations have been conducted by one psychiatrist at the FMHF. The lack of options to conduct COEs locally has been, in part, driven by lack of available state funding and confusion regarding funding sources and eligibility, among various other factors.
DPHHS has prepared a detailed summary that outlines the new process from the time a judge issues a COE to be conducted in the community to when a provider submits a claim for reimbursement.
Under this new process, a County Attorney may request that a judge specify that a COE be completed locally. A court official will notify the County Attorney when an order granting their request for a community-based COE has been issued. The County Attorney’s office will then complete an online notification form apprising DPHHS of the court-ordered evaluation.
The form will allow the County Attorney’s office to select from a list of providers currently performing these services. Unfortunately, there are only 16 providers currently listed and only three in our area - all in Billings. This notification form also captures all the information that DPHHS will later need to ensure that the provider selected by the County Attorney’s office is compensated for conducting the COE.
These community-based COEs can occur in jails, the provider’s office, in private hospitals, other community-settings, or via telehealth. The County Attorney will complete an online attestation form once the COE is completed that allows the provider to bill DPHHS.
DPHHS has conducted outreach with providers to verify their willingness to participate in this new process and describe how they may be reimbursed for COEs and stabilization and restoration services in the community. DPHHS has sent an instructional memorandum to County Attorneys and will also continue its communications with the judiciary.