Wednesday, June 25, 2003

District Failed to Check on Patients (Washington DC)
Washington Post article - "The D.C. Department of Mental Health received more than 500 reports of serious incidents affecting the city's mentally ill population over a 12-month period but cannot document that any were investigated, as required, according to a report released yesterday by the D.C. inspector general. The audit, requested almost two years ago by Mayor Anthony A. Williams to ensure that the city's 8,000 mentally ill patients were being cared for, examined 508 incidents from June 2001 to June 2002. Among them were 46 unexpected or unexplained deaths, 128 allegations of abuse or assaults and 28 suicide attempts. The report also shows that the District has lost track of 20 mentally ill patients who were charged with crimes and committed to St. Elizabeths Hospital and who later were allowed to leave the hospital and did not return."  
  

State gives cost-control incentive for mental care (Massachusetts)
Boston Globe story - "... The state of Massachusetts signed a contract that goes into effect July 1 that provides a national for-profit company a financial incentive to keep in check the cost of mental health care for state employees -- joining most major employers and insurers who have used these incentives for years. The state, which estimates it spent roughly $14 million this fiscal year on mental health care for employees who don't belong to health maintenance organizations, will pay United Behavioral Health about $12 million to cover these same 120,000 employees, retirees, and their families next year. If United spends less than $12 million on their care, the company keeps the difference; if it spends more than $12 million, it eats the difference."