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Mental health hospital's sudden collapse: 'It was just mismanagement'

Palm Beach Post - 10/22/2019

The chief executive and board of a West Palm Beach psychiatric hospital are to blame for its shutdown and a burgeoning crisis as other hospitals struggle to take in its mostly indigent patients, said the head of the health network that oversees the Jerome Golden Center for Behavioral Health.

"It was just mismanagement," Ann Berner told county commissioners Tuesday of the center's failure to stay open in recent weeks.

The Southeast Florida Behavioral Health Network tried to keep open beds at the West Palm Beach hospital and retain some of the center's 347 workers, but dealt with "an uncooperative board of directors, who did not allow us access, who deliberately hid a lot of the financial issues," said Berner, the network's chief executive.

Berner's comments mark the first time an official has publicly blamed the nonprofit Golden Center's volunteer board, made up of accountants, lawyers and doctors who say they only learned about the center's debilitating financial situation a month ago.

The 44-bed psychiatric hospital, formerly Oakwood Center of the Palm Beaches, closed Friday with no public explanation, laying off most of its 347 employees and disrupting countywide mental health care.

The center operated an in-patient hospital, an out-patient clinic, a pharmacy and addiction treatment programs. It served more than 1,800 mostly indigent patients a year.

The center's chief executive officer, Linda De Piano, left after the first public glimpse of problems, when it filed for bankruptcy protection on Sept. 24. It later withdrew the bankruptcy suit, saying it would pursue a sale of its 11-acre campus on 45th Street to a for-profit buyer.

The board planned to sell its properties to a for-profit company, undermining Berner's efforts to keep the hospital open, Berner said. The sale fell through after the center closed, a Golden Center spokesman told The Palm Beach Post.

The closure leaves a severe shortage of mental health beds countywide and no facility can expand fast enough to fill the void, Berner and county commissioners said.

St. Mary's Medical Center, which operates a mental health hospital next door to the Golden Center, has no open mental health beds and a wait list for care, a hospital administrator told County Commissioner Gregg Weiss.

Good Samaritan Medical Center, which does not have a psychiatric hospital, is caring for at least one mental health patient who has nowhere else to go, he said.

The Palm Beach County Jail's mental health ward also is full, Weiss added.

The Golden Center had been a critical destination for patients held under the state's Baker Act for those who are a danger to themselves or others.

And the Golden Center's housing, which sheltered several long-term patients, might close, which could leave county officials dealing with an influx of vulnerable, homeless people.

A blind man, for instance, just two weeks ago moved into one of the Golden Center's apartments, retrofitted to accommodate his disability, Berner said. He and others housed by the Golden Center likely will be forced to move by mid-December.

JFK Medical Center North Campus plans to add mental health beds but not until next year, Berner said. The not-for-profit South County Mental Health Center in Delray Beach, which tried to keep in-patient treatment beds open at the Golden Center, might add beds, too, Berner said.

While Berner blamed the Golden Center's leadership, her organization came under criticism Tuesday as well.

County Mayor Mack Bernard scolded Berner for her agency's role in the center's collapse.

"I hope for the board to hold you accountable for this mess that we're dealing with," Bernard said.

Though Southeast Behavioral audits the Golden Center's finances, the hospital was independently managed, Berner pointed out.

Berner only learned about the center's financial difficulties two weeks before it filed for bankruptcy, when top staff said the center couldn't make payroll.

"I am deeply disturbed we didn't catch it sooner," Berner told The Post after the meeting.

The Golden Center gave workers just three hours notice before closing its doors Friday, employees told The Post. It laid off more than 300 people.

Two employees have filed a lawsuit claiming the Golden Center violated federal labor law by not providing the legally required 60-day notice before laying off most of its workforce.

Jimmy Miller, the Golden Center board chairman, has refused comment since Friday's closure and could not be reached Tuesday.

The board learned about the center's insurmountable debt after federal prosecutors on Aug. 15 indicted the Golden Center's chief financial officer, Alan Heide, on a charge of conspiracy to commit securities fraud.

Heide, who pleaded guilty on Aug. 23, helped orchestrate a payday loan scheme that bilked more than $30 million from investors at his previous job. There is no mention of the Golden Center in Heide's criminal indictment.

His indictment prompted the board to examine the center's books, Miller said on Oct. 3. That's when they realized they were facing a financial crisis.

But the center's annual audits and tax filings show it operated on a nearly $2 million a year deficit since at least 2015. The board took out mortgages on properties in February and August for enough cash to stay afloat for months at a time, Berner said.

"I've got to say, I'm frustrated. I'm tired of looking back at lessons learned," Commissioner Melissa McKinlay said. "We just got completely screwed by the Area Agency on Aging. Now we're getting hurt by Jerome Golden's failure to properly finance their agency."

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