Rachel Ray Photography/RISE Behavioral Health and Wellness/Facebook
TUSCOLA — RISE Behavioral Health and Wellness is in its final weeks of operation, the mental health facility announced Thursday, as financial and staffing challenges risked overwhelming its ability to provide responsible and ethical care.
RISE Executive Director Lauren Christina said that the organization relies primarily on revenue from clinical services to operate.
“Over time, the cost of providing care has increased while reimbursement rates have stayed relatively stable, which creates financial strain,” Christina said. “We also receive limited grant opportunities, which are mostly limited to specific programs or services and cannot be used as part of the general budget.”
ARPA funding from Douglas County has helped the facility run a local crisis line, but the county does not have a 708 Mental Health Board dedicated to providing funding to mental health services, which other counties do have.
Those factors combined to create financial challenges, which impacted RISE’s ability to recruit and retain staff.
“There is a staffing shortage in the field, and as a small, rural community, we feel this shortage a little stronger,” Christina said.
Christina said that community mental health roles like these also carry increased administrative and documentation requirements that make recruitment more difficult.
That only made it more challenging to offer competitive salaries when combined with financial struggles.
The announcement from RISE said that the board of directors made a sincere effort to find a path that would allow services to continue but determined that closing is the most responsible way to “honor its commitments to clients, to staff and to the community.”
The last day for clinical operations will be May 22. The business itself will remain operational through June 30 in order to finalize billing and manage any other administrative responsibilities.
In the meantime, RISE will be working with clients to provide individual support, including referrals and coordination with other providers.
Christina said that the options for referral will be individualized to each client depending on their personal needs.
“We are working with our community mental health partners in surrounding counties to coordinate the best we can,” she said. “There are some clients whose needs are more aligned with other healthcare partners or private practices.”
The closure will represent the end of 50 years of services provided by RISE to the Douglas County community.