Scoop: Philadelphia to stop contracting with major mental health provider
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
Illustration: Allie Carl/Axios
Mayor Cherelle Parker's administration is ending a $3.7 million contract with a long-standing mental health services provider early, per records obtained by Axios.
Why it matters: The West Philadelphia Community Mental Health Consortium, or simply the Consortium, has served the region for five decades and says 12,000 people rely on its mental health and addiction services. Many are low-income or uninsured.
Driving the news: The city notified the Consortium in mid-July that it plans to stop contracting with the group at the end of the year due to violations of its agreement, which is set to expire June 2025.
- The provider is now petitioning for the Parker administration to reconsider its decision.
The big picture: The Consortium provides the city with mobile crisis teams made up of behavioral health experts, along with other services.
- City officials boosted funding for mobile crisis services after the fatal police shooting of Walter Wallace Jr. in 2020.
- Wallace was a patient at the Consortium and received treatment there days before he was shot by police.
Zoom in: Tierra Prichett, deputy commissioner of the city's Department of Behavioral Health and Intellectual disAbility Services, sent the Consortium a notice letter on July 18, citing the nonprofit's failure to maintain its tax-exempt status with the IRS and submit completed yearly audits to the city.
- Prichett also said the city received a "fraudulent" letter showing the nonprofit had purportedly hired a firm to conduct a 2022 audit.
What they're saying: Consortium CEO John White blamed some of his agency's problems on a former employee whom he says allowed paperwork to lapse. And he tells Axios the nonprofit reported the issue with the letter to the city once it was discovered.
- White is concerned that patients will "bear the brunt" of the decision, and questioned why it's necessary since the nonprofit's tax-exempt status was reinstated in June.
- He said the Consortium is catching up on audits from the last three years, which should all be completed in the coming months.
Between the lines: The city also mentioned supporting the Consortium through financial struggles, including providing the nonprofit with $8 million to settle back taxes owed to "various governmental entities" and improve its operations, per the letter.
- White says the $8 million payment was part of an agreement with former Mayor Jim Kenney's administration for the city to purchase the University Avenue building where Consortium is headquartered.
- White says the nonprofit has paid back about $1 million it borrowed to cover payroll expenses.
What's ahead: The city will work with Consortium over the next six months to find new providers to "ensure a smooth transition," per the letter.
- Meanwhile, White says he's making it his mission to get the contract reinstated.