The Hillcrest Family Services office in Henry County is closing, one of three offices in the Southeast Iowa Link Region deemed unsustainable. Due to budget projections and stagnant reimbursement rates the offices have to close. Amerihealth Caritas which left the state as a Managed Care Organization a year ago still owes the agency that provides social and mental health services nearly $1 million. Hillcrest Family Services CEO Julie Heiderscheit says the agency is waiting for millions of dollars of care to be reimbursed, “Right now we have about $7 million in outstanding receivables with the majority of that from various services provided by Managed Care.”

Hillcrest has provided services but is waiting for the providers, including Medicaid providers, to pay back the fee for service. She says if such cuts are not made, then the entire agency could face closure, and then leave many more Iowans without access to care. She adds that the lack of access to care in rural Iowa is a hurdle, “It’s very unfortunate that, especially when folks that have a predisposition to mental illness already have a life expectancy less than the general population, these barriers beyond our control are being implemented to make services harder and harder to get. Just because people have coverage for the services doesn’t make them accessible, which is very sad.”

Heiderscheit says Henry County clients will now have to travel for services, as other offices will work to absorb these needs.