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State drops contract with Omni Behavioral Health

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By NANCY HICKS / Lincoln Journal Star

Saturday, Jun 28, 2008 - 12:20:46 am CDT

Omni Behavioral Health will not be one of the private agencies working with troubled families when the state begins its new contract arrangement next week.

By July 1, the Health and Human Services Department will contract with fewer than a half-dozen private agencies to provide all in-home and emergency services to families in jeopardy of losing their children because of neglect and abuse.

In the past, the state had more than 100 contracts.

Omni had been on the list of agencies with contracts to provide services in the Lincoln and Omaha regions.

But the state decided not to contract with Omni after the company refused to “accept all referrals,” said Todd Landry, director of the Division of Children and Family Services, a part of Health and Human Services.

Omni Executive Director Bill Reay said the state wanted to put a cap on the amount of money the agency would be paid, but would not allow a cap on the number of families an agency would serve.  

“They capped the expenditures, but you have to serve everyone,” he said.

Omni had originally bid successfully to provide services in four of the six regions. After several weeks of negotiations, Omni was listed as a contractor in two regions, Eastern (Omaha) and Southeast.

This week, the state dropped Omni from the list of bidders.

Omni has about 60 open cases in Southeast Nebraska that must be taken over by the remaining two contract agencies July 7, Reay said.

And there is no plan for this transition, he said.

But HHS spokeswoman Jeanne Atkinson said the two contract agencies in Southeast Nebraska — Visinet and Cedars Youth Services — will take over those cases.

In the Eastern service area, Visinet, Boys Town and Child Saving Institute will provide services, according to information provided by HHS.

Reach Nancy Hicks at 473-7250 or nhicks@journalstar.com.


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concerned wrote on June 28, 2008 2:04 am:
" The Department does not realize it now, but they have made a terrible mistake by ending business with this agency. Cedars and Visinet are in over their heads and will have a hard time taking on that number of cases when they don't even have the staff to serve these families. The state obviously IS trying to save money and is not worrying about the individuals who will suffer due to this decision. Also, what will happen to the employees of OMNI come July 1st? "

 Not to worry wrote on June 28, 2008 10:01 am:
" To concerned: CEDARS and VISINET have subcontractors that will help to deal with all of these families. In both areas there are several subcontractors who will be part of the rotation taking care of the families. The state was slow in putting out the contracts, and they have been negotiating now for several weeks while still expecting the contractors, and subcontractors, to be up and running by July 1. Everyone involved in working very hard to make this all happen and to transition families already in the system as smoothly, and with as little disruption as possible. "

 super wrote on June 28, 2008 10:30 am:
" this all boils down to money and has absolutely nothing to do with quality of care to individuals and/or state Wards. The state is overhauling the system, again... happens about every five years and we continue to foot the bill for this giant, top heavy, ineffective department. This is an absolute waste of money and needs drastic changes, not just reshuffeling of our tax dollars. "

 tc wrote on June 28, 2008 4:17 pm:
" Unfortunately the only people who will really suffer from this are the kids. Omni will fill their beds with private placements (and probably make more doing so). The 'system' needs to look at the number of kids they have in juvenile detention and temporary foster placements FIRST. These kids are being locked up and shuffled around and put off consistently and continually. The kids get frustrated and act out and get in more trouble....who ARE we helping? "

 Bob wrote on June 28, 2008 5:03 pm:
" HHS is to big and tries to serve to many populations. I work with the Office of Juvenile Services which supervises juvenile offenders in the community. HSS's "hug a thug" mentality places its Juvenile Service Officers in danger because it does not issue vests or allow us to carry guns and mace. We do much the same job that a cop does with none of the tools to protect us. Sadly it might take a JSO getting hurt or killed before HHS gets a clue that we do a dangerous job. "

 concerned wrote on June 28, 2008 6:58 pm:
" To not to Worry: yes cedars and visinet may have subcontractors, but these are the exact agencies that the state didn't want to work with in the first place...the entire reason they decided to pick only a small number of providers to work with, they have not been happy with the services provided and wanted to get rid of them....these subcontractors don't even offer some of the services that are covered in the contract..trust me, i know. "

 Not to worry wrote on June 28, 2008 7:43 pm:
" To concerned, again: Trust, me I know, I'm part of this whole transition. There have been agencies the state sanctioned, and those same agencies worked very hard to get to where they need to be. Other of those agencies have always provided excellent service to their clients. This is not a waste of time or money, but a better way to serve the children. First and foremost is to keep children with their parents whenever possible, to keep them out of foster care. To address the immediate situation and not tackle every issue a family may have. Once a child is in the system, ie foster care, parents are hard pressed to be able to live up to the expectations that have been put on them. I dare say neither you nor I are perfect parents, but those involved with the system the way it is are forced to attain that status. Doesn't work. This revamping will improve things, speed things up, and give better, more efficient, faster care. To others who have posted about how this new system won't work, try getting involved, seeing what is really happening instead of just complaining about your tax dollars. "

 OMNI employee wrote on June 29, 2008 11:39 am:
" Thank you to concerned: what will happen to OMNI employees? And, what will happen with the children and families that we have built strong relationships with? These children/families have adapted to services/agencies going in and out of their lives, but the time spent in the home with IFP (intensive family preservation) services allows for the possiblity of establishing a strong rapport, teaching/implementing more skills, and consistency in the 15 week program period. Now families will AGAIN experience this disruption in their lives (which may seem minimal) and the cycle will start all over again. I feel bad for the children/adolescents involved in these cases because this seems to be a life pattern for them. "

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