Denver moves STAR behavioral-health clinicians into city jobs
The shift from WellPower is intended to preserve STAR’s service hours and improve coordination with 911, while a $1.6 million grant remains key to the program’s future funding.
Denver is moving its STAR behavioral-health clinicians from contractor WellPower to city employment, a transition officials say will preserve the program’s roughly 16-hours-a-day, seven-days-a-week service and improve coordination with 911 dispatch.
At a Sept. 21 budget hearing, Denver Department of Public Health and Environment officials told Denver City Council that the first city-employed clinicians had been hired about a month earlier and that nearly all were on board. The transition involves 13 clinicians, including two supervisors, and a STAR manager.
Officials said the change will give 911 dispatchers more ability to route specific STAR vans to specific calls and give the department greater control over which calls receive a behavioral-health response. They said the arrangement could allow STAR to answer more calls and give the department more control over training, scheduling and day-to-day management.
The department intends to maintain STAR’s current staffing capacity and availability. The WellPower contract budgeted for about 16 clinicians but generally had no more than 13 working in practice. The STAR manager has also worked on a van when needed during the transition.
Officials described the move as a reorganization within the proposed 2027 budget rather than an overall increase in Department of Public Health and Environment spending. Council members discussed about $851,000 and 6.2 full-time-equivalent city-funded positions for the transition. A separate Caring for Denver grant supports about $1.6 million and 7.8 full-time-equivalent positions for STAR.
The current Caring for Denver award is funded through at least July 2027, officials said. The department plans to apply again when the grant ends and said the program can maintain its current staffing if the funding continues.
Denver’s 2027 budget was still under consideration, and no final budget vote occurred at the hearing. Officials did not identify replacement funding if the grant is not renewed.