The California Mental Health Commission announced Thursday that its executive director will resign after revelations he traveled to the United Kingdom as a courtesy to a state contractor to try to block budget cuts that would cut funding for the company’s contracts. did.
Toby Ewing, executive director of the Mental Health Services Oversight and Accountability Board, will resign effective November 22. Documents obtained by KFF Health News show he tried to protect state funding for London-based digital mental health company Koos in June. Contracted to develop virtual tools to help address California’s youth mental health crisis.
He had been on paid leave since September pending an investigation.
Ewing’s resignation was announced after a four-hour closed session of the Mental Health Committee. At a hearing before the announcement, advocates for mental health services accused the commission of favoring businesses over services for people with mental health and substance use issues.
The commission is an independent agency that ensures that funds from millionaire taxes are used appropriately by counties for mental health services.
“You’re being fooled by big business,” Susan Gallagher, executive director of mental health advocacy group Cal Voices, said at Thursday’s meeting. “You’re lobbying behind the scenes to get these people money. That’s not your job. You serve the people.”
Mr. Ewing declined to comment.
Last year, Koos signed a four-year, $271 million contract with the Department of Health Services, which is separate from the commission, to develop Soluna, a free mental health app for users ages 13 to 25 in California. tied.
The app, along with Brightline’s app for younger users, was launched in January to fill a perceived need for California youth and their families to access free, professional telehealth. It’s part of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s $4.7 billion youth mental health plan.
Since these apps were released in January, adoption has been very slow. In May, the Newsom administration proposed a $140 million budget cut for apps. Both the state House and Senate budget committees have proposed eliminating the entire program, which would save the state $360 million in the face of California’s $45 billion deficit.
But funding for Koos’ app was eventually restored. The reason is unknown. Ewing pressured Congressional staffers in June to reverse the proposed cuts, according to emails and calendars reviewed by KFF Health News.
About two weeks later, Ewing joined MHSOAC Commissioners Mara Madrigal-Weiss, Bill Brown, and Steve Carnevale on a trip to London. Koos paid Ewing, Madrigal-Weiss and Brown $15,000 in travel expenses, according to public documents. The documents do not show that the company paid for Carnevale’s travel expenses.
While Mr. Ewing was in London, colleagues told him that funding for the Koos app had been restored and a final state budget had been approved. Ewing emailed Koos executives with ideas for improving the teletherapy app. About a week later he wrote: “We hope you will be involved in what we envision.”
At Thursday’s committee meeting, Stacey Hiramoto, director of the Racial and Ethnic Mental Health Disparities Coalition, said the public would view the London trip as a serious conflict of interest.
Mr. Hiramoto said of Mr. Koos, “Maybe there was no wrongdoing, and maybe the company was good.” “But you don’t understand what the conflict looks like?”
Carnevale said during Thursday’s meeting that the Newsom administration asked the committee to engage Congress during budget negotiations.
“The governor’s office contacted us and asked us to help support their case, which we did,” Carnevale said. “We explained our position on the digital solutions on offer in general, without commenting specifically on specific companies or products.”
Newsom’s office did not immediately respond.
Mr Carnevale said his visit to the UK was not related to the budget. He said the trip was “very successful” as he was able to exchange ideas with mental health policy leaders.
DHCS Secretary Michelle Barth told lawmakers in May that about 20,000 of the state’s more than 12.6 million children and youth were enrolled in the app. Together, they were used for only about 2,800 coaching sessions. The department did not provide more recent numbers to KFF Health News.
Madrigal-Weiss praised youth-led design and defended support for mental health apps. He cited data showing that the majority of Koos’ users enjoy virtual coaching sessions, and more than half of them are from underserved communities.
Payments will depend in part on the number of users of the app, according to a Koos contract obtained through a records request earlier this year. Koos will not receive a raise until the company reaches 366,000 users.
Koos’ stock fell about 20% Thursday after KFF Health News published an article about Ewing’s efforts to restore funding for the contract and the London trip.
Gabe Brison-Trezise contributed to this report.
This article was produced by KFF Health News, which publishes California Healthline, an editorially independent service of the California Health Care Foundation.
This article is republished from khn.org. khn.org is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism on health issues and is one of KFF’s core operating programs, providing independent information for health policy research, polling, and journalism. It is the source.
