Friday, September 19, 2003

State hospital to lose federal funding (Vermont)
Burlington Free Press story - "The Vermont State Hospital -- a state-run psychiatric intensive care facility in Waterbury -- will lose its federal funding Sept. 30 as a result of a suicide this week as well as treatment deficiencies cited during inspections earlier this year. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services informed the state Thursday of its decision to terminate funding for the 54-bed psychiatric hospital. State officials filed a corrective plan just last week that they had hoped would satisfy federal officials. The hospital had until Sept. 30 to remedy a list of deficiencies. Now the hospital stands to lose about $700,000 a year, but officials said the loss won't force closure. State dollars will have to make up for the shortfall."  
  

Mental health units in Pueblo, Denver to lose $2 million (Colorado)
Casper Star-Tribune story - "Colorado's two mental health hospitals face up to $2 million in new state budget cuts, officials say. The state might recoup $1.3 million by billing county social services agencies who ask the hospitals to treat disturbed and troublesome children, said Nancy McCallin, director of Gov. Bill Owens' budget office. McCallin outlined the cuts Wednesday that were worked out between the Colorado Department of Health Care Policy and Finance, which manages Medicaid, and the Department of Human Services, which oversees mental health programs."  
  

No final date exists for closing mental health facilities (Minnesota)
Brainerd Dispatch story - "The state's prodding in favor of community-based mental health services continues but no arbitrary date exists when state facilities that treat mental health problems must be closed, Department of Human Services Commissioner Kevin Goodno said Wednesday in Brainerd. Meeting with county social services directors and mental health professionals in the Crow Wing County Services Building, Goodno asked the outstate officials to devise their best plan to serve those who use state mental health services and then work with the DHS to overcome barriers that might stand in the way of that service."