The director of California’s mental health department has resigned after allegations of conflicts of interest

California’s mental health commission on Thursday announced that its chief executive will resign amid revelations that he traveled to the UK with the help of a government contractor as he sought to block funding cuts. owners supported the company’s contract.

Toby Ewing, executive director of the Mental Health Services Oversight and Accountability Commission, will step down effective Nov. 22. Documents obtained by KFF Health News show that he tried in June to secure government funding for Kooth, a London-based digital mental health company. with a contract to develop a real tool to help California deal with the problem of youth mental health.

He had been on paid administrative leave pending an investigation since September.

Ewing’s resignation was announced after a four-hour closed-door meeting of the mental health commission. During public hearings before the announcement, advocates for mental health services accused the commission of favoring agencies over serving people with mental health and substance abuse issues.

The commission is an independent organization responsible for ensuring that federal tax dollars are used appropriately by counties for mental health services.

“You’ve been co-opted by big business,” said Susan Gallagher, executive director of Cal Voices, a mental health advocacy organization, during Thursday’s meeting. “You are pushing these people behind their backs to get money. That is not your job. You are working for the people.”

Ewing declined to comment.

Last year, Kooth signed a four-year, $271 million contract with the Department of Health Services, which is separate from the commission, to create Soluna, a free mental health tool for California users of age 13 to 25.

The app, along with one of the smaller operators is the Brightline company, which launched in January to fill a perceived need for California youth and their families to access professional calls for free. It is one part of the Gavin Newsom Administration’s $4.7 billion mental health plan.

The apps have seen very slow performance since its launch in January. In May, the Newsom administration proposed a $140 million budget cut for operations. Both the state Assembly and Senate budget committees have recommended ending the entire program to save the state $360 million because of California’s $45 billion deficit.

But Kooth’s device money came back. It is not clear why. Emails and calendars reviewed by KFF Health News show Ewing pressured legislative staff in June to reverse the proposed vacancy.

About two weeks later, Ewing accompanied MHSOAC commissioners Mara Madrigal-Weiss, Bill Brown, and Steve Carnevale on a trip to London. Disclosure forms show Kooth paid $15,000 in travel expenses for Ewing, Madrigal-Weiss, and Brown. The forms do not show which company paid for the Carnevale trip.

While Ewing was in London, a colleague told him that the last national budget had been approved with the money recovered for the Kooth app. Ewing sent feedback to Kooth’s manager to improve its teletherapy app. About a week later he wrote, “We expect you to contribute to whatever we dream up.”

At Thursday’s commission meeting, Stacie 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.

“Maybe there was nothing wrong, and maybe the company was good,” Hiramoto said, referring to Kooth. “But don’t you understand the appearance of conflict?”

Carnevale said at Thursday’s meeting that the Newsom administration has asked the commission to engage with the legislature during budget negotiations.

“The governor’s office reached out to us asking us to help them support the arguments and that’s what we did,” Carnevale said. “We took a step back and explained our position on the digital solutions offered in general, without any particular opinion about any company or any product in particular.”

Newsom’s office did not immediately respond.

Carnevale said the UK tour had nothing to do with the budget. He said the trip was “very successful” for exchanging ideas with mental health policy leaders.

DHCS Director Michelle Baass told lawmakers in May that about 20,000 of the state’s 12.6 million children and youth are enrolled in the programs. Together, they were used for only about 2,800 training sessions. The department has not provided the latest figures to KFF Health News.

Madrigal-Weiss advocated her support of mental health programs, praising the youth-led initiative. He cited data that the majority of Kooth users liked the training sessions and more than half were from disadvantaged communities.

According to Kooth’s contract, obtained through a records request earlier this year, its payment is based on how many people use its app. Kooth will not receive a salary increase until it reaches 366,000 users.

Kooth’s stock price dropped nearly 20% on Thursday after KFF Health News published an article about Ewing’s efforts to recoup money for its contract and London trip.

KFF Live News 2024. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.