ADAMH taking over Columbus Area Integrated Health Services after financial collapse - The Columbus Dispatch
Columbus Area Integrated Health Services, a long-time provider of mental health care and addiction treatment in the central city, has collapsed financially.
"The agency is no longer viable. Liabilities far exceed any assets that they have," David Royer, CEO of the Alcohol, Drug and Mental Health Board of Franklin County, said on Tuesday. "The bank has frozen their accounts; people have not been paid in over two weeks. As you can imagine, it's a very difficult situation."
The nonprofit organization's board of trustees asked the ADAMH board to take over, and the Ohio Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services approved that request, effective Tuesday. Royer said that Columbus Area's president CEO, Anthony Penn, and its chief financial officer, Lisa Skidmore, were "relieved of their duties" by the board.
Approximately 80 to 100 direct or contract employees were told Tuesday that they are being furloughed, while hundreds of people who were receiving care through the East Side agency are being referred to other providers.
"We think it's going to be in the neighborhood of 1,500 people who need to be served by others," Royer said.
According to a 2017 audit, Columbus Area had debts of more than $6 million and about $3.3 million worth of assets. The ADAMH board has funded the 50-year-old agency for many years but scaled back its support last fall amid growing concerns about its financial health.
"It was apparent to us that there was a series of bad decisions made," Royer said.
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