Record detox costs projected for Blue Earth County

Oct. 14--MANKATO -- Blue Earth County is on pace for a record-setting level of detox costs in 2014, the third straight year of rising expense for dealing with severely intoxicated people.

"Our costs continue to go up, and it is sizable," said Human Services Director Phil Claussen during a report to the County Board on Tuesday.

The most common Blue Earth County client at the Brown County Evaluation Center detox facility in New Ulm is a male between the ages of 20 and 25.

"Which isn't a huge surprise, I think," Claussen said.

Commissioner Drew Campbell wondered what percentage are college students and if Minnesota State University needs to be doing more to address the problem of binge drinking.

Campbell said he recognizes that the university has taken steps to educate students about alcohol and chemical abuse.

"Maybe more effort needs to go into that ... if it's the student population that's costing the county money," Campbell said.

Claussen and Assistant Human Services Director Angela Youngerberg said data isn't readily available on which of the detox pickups are students at local colleges. But there's no doubt that caring for people who are too drunk to care for themselves is an expensive proposition.

Cost are projected to reach nearly $450,000 this year. The tab was as low as $350,000 in 2011, the third and final year of a decline in detox expenses. Outside of that three-year downward trend, costs have been rising steadily since 2003 when the county paid just less than $200,000.

Through the end of September, 318 males and 104 females had been transported to the New Ulm detox with repeat offenders driving the total number of drop-offs to 482. A total of 1,054 detox days were required to sober those folks up and make sure they were safe to release. The average cost per day was $297.20.

Nearly 45 percent of the county's cost for detox services were generated by 47 repeat clients, ranging from 30 people who've made two trips to New Ulm so far this year to three who have made eight or more. The current leader has been taken to detox 11 times in the first nine months of the year.

The nearly $450,000 in projected county costs represent the fees charged by the Brown County Evaluation Center and don't include the law enforcement costs of transporting the inebriates to New Ulm or the offsetting revenue that is sometimes recovered from the client's insurance company.

The implementation of the Affordable Care Act, which means a higher percentage of the population is insured, could help boost the insurance payments coming back to the county -- particularly if Medical Assistance ultimately covers detox costs.

"It's in the works," Claussen said of attempts to get MA coverage for detoxification, "so that could have a big bearing (on net costs to the county.)"

The county is projected to spend more than $300,000 on chemical dependency treatment in 2013, a figure that rises and falls depending on the number of people who come to the county seeking an evaluation and treatment.

"We've been pretty stable as far as the number of individuals who have arrived needing this type of service," Youngerberg said.

Those costs are often covered by insurance, but Claussen said the county will provide a chemical dependency assessment for any resident seeking help.

"We would work with anyone who comes to our door," he said.

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