O’Brien County, Iowa — (O’Brien County’s Bell-Times-Courier) — At their October 8 meeting, the O’Brien County Supervisors heard pros and cons to membership of two different mental health regions in Iowa. O’Brien County is currently a member of Northwest Iowa Care Connections. Other member counties are Clay, Dickinson, Osceola and Palo Alto. Discussion began on October 8 about whether to leave Care Connections and join Sioux Rivers Mental Health Region. Current membership of that region is Sioux, Plymouth and Lyon counties.
Services were compared, showing that the services available to adult citizens within the member counties of the 2 regions are very similar. Providers of services are most often the same providers. Per capita tax levies maximum are within cents of each other.
On October 15 the discussion with comparisons continued. O’Brien County Sheriff, Allen Schuknecht, mentioned to County Auditor Barb Rohwer that he wants to come to their October 22 meeting to speak with the board about transportation billing with Sioux Rivers. Sioux Rivers either pays mileage or they pay expenses. It does not reimburse both. According to Sherri Bootsma, she spoke with Walters about that issue and his response was it could be discussed; that the reimbursement rate does not need to be a deal breaker. Law enforcement are the normal method of transportation for patients to and from in-patient or specialty facilities across Iowa and parts of Nebraska and South Dakota. Schuknecht is checking with how other counties reimburse the cost. The statute for reimbursement is unclear. O’Brien County Attorney Rachel Becker will be asked for her interpretation of the statute, 331.655(j).
The discussion will be continued on October 22 with more information of the transportation costs presented. There is no meeting on October 29.
This story comes from our News Partner, O’Brien County’s Bell-Times-Courier.
