Friday, June 20, 2003

Senate passes Butner project (North Carolina)
Herald-Sun story - "The state Senate passed a bill Thursday to build a $110 million state psychiatric hospital with 1,200 jobs in Butner, perhaps the final blow to those pushing for other sites for the project. The 432-bed, state-of-the-art facility would replace John Umstead Hospital in Butner and Dorothea Dix Hospital in Raleigh and save the state about $43 million a year. That money would be plowed back into communities for local mental health services, part of a new push to decentralize mental health care in the state..."  
  

Mental health agencies under fraud investigation (Georgia)
AP story at OnlineAthens - "Two agencies that provide mental health services to thousands of Georgians are under state and federal investigation for possible fraud. The state Health Care Fraud Control Unit is looking into the finances and operations of the Highland Rivers Community Service Board in northwest Georgia and Community Mental Health Center of East Central Georgia in Augusta..."