After 50 years of providing services for youth with developmental disabilities in western Montana, the Child Development Center closed its doors earlier this month as Benchmark Human Services, a for-profit Indiana-based healthcare company, replaced the nonprofit provider.

The Child Development Center ceased providing services on July 1 while Benchmark has started offering “some services,” according to Benchmark officials.

For years, the Child Development Center contracted with the Montana Department of Health and Human Services (DPHHS) as part of the Developmental Disabilities Program (DDP). But this year, the contract was awarded to Benchmark, which received a higher score on the request for proposal (RFP).

Headquartered in Missoula, the Child Development Center served Missoula, Lake, Flathead, Mineral, Ravalli, and Sanders counties and employed 74 staff members, 45 of whom were fulltime employees. Benchmark will employ 10 to 12 staff members even as officials say they are “excited to hire many staff members from (the Child Development Center) to help maintain continuity of care for children and families.”

In an email to the Beacon, Benchmark Human Services Chief Culture Officer Courtney Heiser said the company has an administrative office in Great Falls and is currently looking for space in Missoula. Providers will give care in a home-based environment and services will not be clinic-based as some Child Development Center services were.

Montana is now one of 18 states where Benchmark exists while they offer early intervention programs in Colorado, Connecticut, Missouri and Virginia.

In western Montana, the Child Development Center provided services for roughly 350 kids per month; Heiser said Benchmark was assuming 196 of those clients while the state target was 280.

Child Development Center Executive Director Greg Malone said some staff have accepted positions with Benchmark, adding that he was uncertain whether the new company will provide the same services.

“Some of the families will see the same faces coming to their homes, but the agency employing them will be different,” Malone said. “We are hoping for the best.”

The Child Development Center has historically offered free home-based early intervention services for infants and toddlers who need extra support in the first three years of life through the Montana Milestones/Part C Early Intervention program, which amounts to 35% of the organization’s clientele.

Malone emphasized the importance of early intervention and said while it creates a foundation for kids with developmental disabilities, it is also fiscally responsible.

“Those are the most formative years that yield the best results,” Malone said. “A dollar spent today could translate to $10 to $100 down the road. If they have to be put into group homes, the money spent at this phase is obviously fiscally responsible but your kiddos also have a much more fulfilling life. They get those skills if they receive services from agencies like ours. They might not need additional help when they get to school — that’s the advantage of these services. It catches the kids up.”

Heiser said Benchmark would offer the same Part C Early Intervention Services, which includes service coordination, special instruction, and physical, occupational and speech therapies; however, the company will not absorb all of the development center’s clients.

An additional intervention services system at the Child Development Center called Family Education and Support (FES) was also offered to help disabled individuals ages 3 to 21, as well as their families, access intervention services, which are not funded by Medicaid. Benchmark officials said they will not be offering this service.

“As the kiddos age out, it’s the next step,” Malone said. “It’s two different programs and the funding comes from different sources.”

Malone recalled occasions that as many as 85% of the center’s clients were on Medicaid, which presented challenges as Montana’s reimbursement rate remained low.

Like many social service providers, the Child Development Center saw a 25% reduction in the reimbursement rate following legislative budget cuts in 2017, which slashed behavioral health services statewide and presented a variety of challenges for the organization.

“You wouldn’t get paid,” Malone said. “Sixty-five percent of services – we were not getting paid the base rate. We were absorbing the costs for therapies. When we got through this phase, we were advocating really hard for a change in reimbursements.”

Heiser told the Beacon that Benchmark “does not have a target” for the volume of Medicaid and private pay clients it will serve.

Additionally, the Child Development Center offered center-based Autism Spectrum Disorder services and providers connected clients with autism evaluations. Heiser said while they are exploring Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) for clients with Autism Spectrum Disorder, they are not offering services at this time.

“From what I know, the other autism service providers in the area went under, and we are the next stone to drop,” Malone said. “I don’t know what services look like now, but I know it’s been difficult.”

According to DPHHS, 4% of Montana children ages 6 to 17 are diagnosed with autism. Nationally, about one in 68 children have been identified with autism, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring Network.

“There’s been a lot of shock,” Malone said. “Clients are obviously concerned about what’s going to happen to those kiddos, but we have to be optimistic and believe that the new agency is going to provide a service that’s equivalent to what we’re providing.”

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