Southeast Georgia's largest mental health care provider has laid off 63 employees.
Gateway Behavioral Health Services says, it's dealing with a $6 million budget hole. The company says, the main cause is shrinking payouts from state-run Medicaid.
So last week, Gateway gave pink slips to about 10% of its workforce. It's also cutting back to focus more on treating core and emergency services.
Underfunding means Gateway can't afford to address many preventable problems, according to Gateway C-E-O Frank Bonati.
"Prevention and early intervention become infinitely harder when we have to divert all of our attention to acute care and chronic care situations," Bonati says. "It's a question of pay me now or pay me later. The perfect example, of course, are jails."
The National Association for the Mentally Ill ranks Georgia 44th in mental health care funding. Gateway serves about 9,000 patients in eight southeast Georgia counties.
Gateway Behavioral Health Services says, it's dealing with a $6 million budget hole. The company says, the main cause is shrinking payouts from state-run Medicaid.
So last week, Gateway gave pink slips to about 10% of its workforce. It's also cutting back to focus more on treating core and emergency services.
Underfunding means Gateway can't afford to address many preventable problems, according to Gateway C-E-O Frank Bonati.
"Prevention and early intervention become infinitely harder when we have to divert all of our attention to acute care and chronic care situations," Bonati says. "It's a question of pay me now or pay me later. The perfect example, of course, are jails."
The National Association for the Mentally Ill ranks Georgia 44th in mental health care funding. Gateway serves about 9,000 patients in eight southeast Georgia counties.
