Columbia River Mental Health Services clinic in Vancouver on March 24, 2025. The facility shut down abruptly in what administrators described as a "pause in services."
Erik Neumann / OPB
Columbia River Mental Health Services announced Thursday that it has hired Craig Pridemore to be the nonprofit’s interim CEO.
Pridemore has deep experience in Southwest Washington and at the nonprofit. He was most recently the agency’s CEO from 2014 to 2020. He’s also a former Washington state senator and a Clark County commissioner.
He’s taking over at the mental health provider during a difficult time. In late March, Columbia River Mental Health Services abruptly closed three sites in Clark County and furloughed staff. The agency was facing an approximately $6 million budget gap, between past debts and ongoing expenses.
“After they had even depleted their cash on hand, they continued to spend money and then simply not pay the bills for them,” Pridemore said.
Financial problems compounded between billing inefficiencies and insurance claim denials in late 2024. The Trump administration’s temporary funding freeze at the end of January made problems worse by causing payment defaults, according to Chief Operating Officer Kelly Ferguson. That’s when the nonprofit’s board decided to suspend services at its Battle Ground, Hazel Dell and Vancouver sites.
“The board was clearly raising questions about it for some time, certainly for the past two years,” Pridemore said. “It can be said that they didn’t take action sooner to really force the issue and require them to get the revenue and expenses back in line.”
Former CEO Victor Jackson resigned in recent weeks amid the financial turmoil. One hundred twenty-one employees were laid off, furloughed or resigned, according to Ferguson. She said the closures did not occur because of fraud or corruption, and Columbia River Mental Health is in good legal standing.
The nonprofit’s website says it provides mental health and substance use treatment to approximately 5,000 people per year, the vast majority of whom use the low-income health insurance Medicaid.
Behavioral health clinics often operate with “significant losses” due to clients being covered by Medicaid and Medicare, according to Ferguson. She said payments to nonprofits like Columbia River Mental Health Services “often do not or only barely cover the real costs to deliver services.”
After the closures, the agency transferred patients to other Clark County providers. The organization’s NorthStar opioid treatment center has remained open.
Pridemore said with more control over costs, the agency can break even. He expects health care staff will start returning as soon as next week, though administrative staff may remain furloughed for longer.
Ferguson said the organization recently received “a generous gift from a prominent and trusted local partner to help the cause,” but that it wasn’t enough to reopen select services by their goal of April 1.
Pridemore declined to provide more specific details about how the organization expects to get on better financial footing.
“I am optimistic that we will very soon have a resolution on that,” he said.
