BRUNSWICK

Since Merrymeeting Behavioral Health Associates’ closure became public knowledge this week, and along with it, the loss of about 170 jobs, the Maine Department of Health and Human Services says it was among the last to be informed of the closure they are blamed for.

According to DHHS spokeswoman Samantha Edwards, the letter Merrymeeting sent to the Department of Labor and the town of Brunswick, as well as notifications to their employees, came before contact with DHHS on the matter.

In the March 28 letter, Merrymeeting laid blame for closing their operations solely on DHHS.

“This decision was necessitated by the notice Merrymeeting received from the state of Maine on March 22, 2016, stating that effective April 8, 2016, MaineCare would no longer cover over 80 percent of the community based services provided by Merrymeeting,” the letter read.

“There are no cost cuts that are happening through DHHS. What’s happening is they’re referring to a Section 17 rule change which has already passed,” Edwards said.

Edwards said that Merrymeeting’s clients, under the rule change, would have to go through evaluation to see if Section 17 services best suit their needs or whether they are more suitable for services under a different section of MaineCare.

“I know that they threw out some percentage of what would be cut — there’s no way to tell that that is the case. They actually sent out the notices to their 200 employees and roughly 400 consumers and then told the department,” Edwards said.

By doing so with such short notice, Edwards said Merrymeeting is actually breaching their contract with the department. By their contract, Merrymeeting was required to provide 30 days written notice so that the state can step in and assist in transitioning clients to another nearby provider.

“We just got that letter today,” Edwards said on Thursday.

According to their website, Brunswick-based Merrymeeting “offers an array of outpatient services to help individuals with mental health and developmental disability issues become healthy and productive members of society.”

After reaching out to Merrymeeting again, Edwards said DHHS is now working with the agency to transition clients affected by the closure. Edwards said the department has had local providers contact them saying they’re willing to step in. Edwards said help will be found for Merrymeeting clients.

Edwards could not answer why Merrymeeting was the only agency being affected to the point of closure by rule changes under Section 17 and yet other agencies are able to take on their clients.

Merrymeeting did not respond to attempts to reach them.

Edwards said providers have known about the Section 17 rule change for some time. DHHS held a public forum in December where providers and individuals affected were able to speak or submit written responses — all of which have been replied to by the state, according to Edwards.

Edwards said she doesn’t understand how an agency can attribute their closure to a DHHS rule change that has yet to go into effect.

The Merrymeeting letter said all clinical employees will be terminated on April 8 and the office staff on April 22. It said a few employees may remain longer to finalize the closing, but that number is unknown.

dmcintire@timesrecord.com

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