The decade-old Alaska Island Community Services “Crossings” program may be searching for its soul in the coming months after a round of federal budget cuts cost a number of employees their jobs last week.
A group of nine full- and part-time core staff members from the program, the largest wilderness therapy program for emotionally at-risk teens in the State of Alaska, received letters on Friday, Nov. 4 telling them their positions were being eliminated due to “unforeseen circumstances.”
The letter also told the employees they would be provided with packets informing them about the possibility of applying for unemployment benefits.
AICS director Mark Walker said the future of the program is an open question and the job losses are a result of new procedures in regard to Medicaid billing at the state level.
“Five of those nine employees were going to be laid off anyway due to their part-time positions and the seasonal nature of Crossings,” Walker said. “There has been a change in Medicaid regulations and we are uncertain about the implications for Crossings. We had to make an adjustment based on the prospect of not receiving as much funding from Medicaid for each youth that comes to the program.”
That uncertainty, Walker added, led to the reduction in force.
“Because of that we are downsizing to protect ourselves from the loss of revenue that the new regulations will have on us,” he said.
According to Melissa Stone, Director of the Division of Behavioral Health for the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services, while no cuts to Medicaid funding to AICS have been implemented, new benchmarks in the way Crossings provides treatment are on the way.
“There have been no Medicaid cuts to Alaska Island Community Services,” Stone said in an email. “The Division of Behavioral Health intends to implement standardized clinical criteria and review by the department, which is a change from current practice. Currently the department relies heavily on the provider’s affirmation on the authorization request form that the recipients’ assessment and treatment plan document the medical necessity for the service and the child’s interdisciplinary team has confirmed the need.”
Stone added that Behavioral Health would share the criteria with agencies and provide training before the start date to give agencies the opportunity to implement internal adjustment. No start date has been announced.
On Oct. 26, nine days prior to the termination letter being delivered to employees, Stephen Prysunka left his position as the director of Crossings. His departure from the program, which he led from its inception in 2001, saw it grow from 14 participants that year to more than 220 in 2011 – with nearly 100 percent capacity.
Prysunka declined to comment on this story.
Wrangell businessman and Borough Assembly member Bill Privett, who has been a landlord to a number of program employees over the years, said that he is shocked and saddened by the loss of jobs.
“It is huge for Wrangell to lose this many jobs in one day,” Privett said. “I remember the day the mill closed. We had over 57 percent unemployment in town in 30 seconds and went very quickly from a population of over 2,700 people to where we are now at around 1,900.”
According to local business owner Jeff Angerman, the drawdown in Crossings’ workforce will also have an effect on Wrangell’s economy.
“It will have a negative effect on our business and economy,” Angerman said. “In terms of my business, I brought in some specialized items for the program and most of their employees purchased XtraTuf boots from me. Fewer employees mean fewer boot sales.”
Angerman also expressed his extreme satisfaction with what Crossings has brought to Wrangell since it began in 2001.
“Crossings has been a fantastic addition to our town and has included folks from across the world who work in the field and our offices,” Angerman added. “I sincerely hope the program continues and this is just a drawdown, not an elimination. I hope they can survive and prosper.”
In a 2010 interview with the Sentinel, Crossings Assistant Marketing Director and Program Developer LJ Messenger said Crossings had completed that season with a record 25 courses, serving over 200 Alaskan teens. Crossings had planned on matching or exceeding those 25 trips in 2011 and hiring as many as 50 field guides and 60-85 other staffers.
The Obama administration pledged earlier this year to cut nearly $320 billion in savings from the nation’s health care system in order to trim the federal deficit and included a plan to make changes in the oversight of Medicare and Medicaid providers.
The AICS Crossings program offered a 51-day behavioral health curriculum for young men and women between the ages of 12-18. The program was wilderness-based and used the outdoors of Southeast Alaska to teach skills related to canoeing and mountaineering. According to the program’s website, its purpose was to teach participants how to “learn to use personal strengths and abilities to manage challenges they face in their every day lives.”
Walker added that for the near future, the 51-day program is most likely a thing of the past.
“We have not configured how our program is going to look,” Walker said. “We’re looking at adjusting the number of days in the field downward. We are also looking at alternative ways to fund Crossing, but in the short-term, we are trying to adjust to this change.”
Seven full-time staffers remain at the program.
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