Thursday, April 14, 2005

Mental health experts unsure of bill’s impact (Texas) Brownsville Herald story - "A proposed reorganization of the way the state pays for mental health services could result in a streamlined delivery system, but might make it harder for patients in the Rio Grande Valley to find care, mental health experts said. House Bill 470 directs the community Mental Health and Mental Retardation centers, including Tropical Texas in the Valley, to move toward a system of fee-for-service in which the state would pay private providers directly for their services. It also moves toward separating the provider services from the authority, or administrative services. Community centers like Tropical Texas now provide both..."