Nebraska state shrinks still double-dipping, a decade after vow to end the practice

From a report from the Nebraska Watchdog. Another case of getting paid for more than what they do.

Nearly a decade ago, the new head of the state psychiatric hospital promised change to the Lincoln Regional Center after lawmakers discovered most of the psychiatrists had other jobs. Some were double-dipping — working at the state psychiatric hospital and county mental health center — while others were triple- and quadruple-dipping. But, 10 years later, Nebraska Watchdog has found little has changed.

Take Dr. Sanat Roy: He’s a psychiatrist at the Mental Health Crisis Center of Lancaster County, contract psychiatrist at the Lincoln Regional Center and has a private practice at Plaza West Psychiatrists. He’s also listed as the medical director for Blue Valley Behavioral Health, a Beatrice nonprofit that serves 16 counties in southeast Nebraska.

Scott Etherton, program director for the county’s mental health center, said Roy works part-time and is on call 24/7. He gets $160,000 annually plus nearly $30,000 in benefits. Roy is on a contract with the state, earning more than $125 per hour for up to 1,664 hours per year (32 hours per week) or $210,266 per year.

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Another psychiatrist, Dr. Klaus Hartmann, works full-time for the Regional Center, earning $243,884 annually — the highest state salary. He’s also listed as a psychiatrist for Bryan LGH and fills in for Roy when he’s on leave, according to Etherton.

A third psychiatrist working a second job is Dr. Rafael Tatay, a full-time psychiatrist at the Regional Center who makes $237,597 annually. He also is listed as a psychiatrist at Plaza West Psychiatrists.

After getting complaints for years that Regional Center psychiatrists weren’t putting in 40 hours a week, a 2005 performance audit by the Legislature found most Regional Center psychiatrists had other jobs that had them putting in upwards of 80 hours per week. The audit report didn’t say whether the psychiatrists were still able to properly do their jobs, despite holding down multiple positions. After the report came out, the new head of the Regional Center at the time, Bill Gibson, said he would work to end the double-dipping.

Back then, Roy and Hartmann were making about $330,000 annually working for the state and county, with jobs that required them to put in more than 65 hours per week, plus private practices. They’d been doing it for two decades [...] “It has been standard practice. I don’t think it has been detrimental to patient care. But it is not what I envision for the future,” he said in 2005.

Psychiatrists are among the highest paid state employees — with eight of them cracking the top 15 highest paid state employees

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