Snohomish County officials say the county shouldn’t be the state’s test market for new ways of providing mental health, drug and alcohol treatment, and medical care for Medicaid patients.

The pilot project, the first of its kind in the state, is scheduled to begin in July with 6,000 blind, disabled and elderly Medicaid patients who are being enrolled in a new managed care plan.

If the program goes beyond its test phase, it would affect an estimated 15,000 Medicaid patients in the county.

County Executive Aaron Reardon and John Koster, chairman of the County Council, have asked Gov. Gary Locke to table the test project. In aMonday letter to Locke, they said it’s unclear how the proposal would affect the county. Originally, the letter notes, other counties were to be included.

"With the number of questions out there, we think more time is needed to work and serve our clients as it’s envisioned," said Susan Neely, the county’s executive director for law, justice and human services.

The state Association of Counties is asking for a delay of at least a year. Among its concerns are the impact the program could have on human service departments statewide, where workers now help coordinate the care of such patients.

The goal in switching to managed care is to better coordinate care and save taxpayer money, according to state Department of Social and Health Services, which oversees the state’s Medicaid programs.

Janelle Sgrignoli, Snohomish County’s human services director, said it’s possible that as many as 45 employees could be laid off in the switch to managed care, but she won’t know for sure until the state provides more details.

Three organizations are competing for a state contract to manage care for county Medicaid patients: Minnesota-based Evercare, which oversees similar programs in six states; the Community Health Plan of Washington, a statewide group of nonprofit clinics; and Molina Healthcare, which as part of another state contract is already managing health care for up to 20,000 local Healthy Options patients — a Medicaid program for pregnant women, adults on welfare and low-income children.

Jim Stevenson, a DSHS spokesman, said the test project isn’t scheduled to begin until summer, which leaves time for questions to be answered.

"This project has been in the planning stages for more than a year," he said. "It would be difficult to predict that we could just stop on a dime. But I think it depends on what the concerns are and what we find out."

Another meeting on the test project is scheduled 2:30-5:30 p.m. Feb. 17 at the Snohomish County PUD building. The first meeting was Monday in the Everett Public Library auditorium. About 75 people attended.

"I think it’s an attempt to save money that will not work for this particular population," said Tom Richardson of Bellingham, who serves on a five-county regional advisory panel that oversees mental health services.

"What we’re concerned about is what will happen to those who are not part of the pilot project if resources are taken from them to support the pilot project," said Terry Clark, a director for Compass Health, which provides counseling and mental health services to 12,000 people in county, about 75 percent of whom are on Medicaid.

Reporter Sharon Salyer:

425-339-3486 or

salyer@heraldnet.com.