Monday, May 03, 2004
Mental health reform hinges on rerouting funds for services (North Carolina)Herald Sun story - "The success of the state's mental health reform efforts depends on funding, officials said Saturday at the annual Durham/Orange Legislative Breakfast for Mental Health. ... The state-mandated reform, which the General Assembly enacted in 2001, is intended to change local mental health agencies into contract overseers, who would not provide direct assistance but instead work much the way managed-care companies do, by authorizing other providers to render services. The challenge is to figure out how to redirect about $2 billion to the service providers, said Lanier Cansler, deputy secretary for the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services. A variety of services should be available in a community before the health agency divests and downsizes. But in some communities, the services won't appear until money from that same downsizing becomes available..."
PSI quietly joining ranks of top mental health-care firmsStory in
The Tennessean - "When 2003 began, PSI had just five inpatient facilities and 700 beds. By the end of the year, it had added 18 facilities and had a total of 2,900 beds. Today, the company owns 22 inpatient psychiatric facilities and leases four more with a total of 3,200 beds in 15 states. Of those beds, 55% are for acute-care hospital patients. The rest are for patients who need longer-term residential stays. Last week, PSI signed an agreement to buy four more facilities with a total of 360 beds as part of a $47 million deal. Psychiatric Solutions also manages 43 inpatient behavioral facilities inside hospitals that are owned by others. In addition, PSI manages 11 government-owned facilities..."
Mental health reform left holes in safety net (Kansas)Lawrence Journal-World story - "Seven years after lawmakers closed Topeka State Hospital with the understanding that patients would be cared for in community situations instead of a state institution, most agree that reform has worked." This story, however, focuses more on "...the ugly side of the well-intended reform movement that led to the closing of Topeka State Hospital: Those who don't fit end up in jail or prison. ...State officials aren't sure how -- or whether -- to create a nonprison, noncommunity alternative ..."
Mental health care improvement comes with risk (Texas)Houston Chronicle story - "After a dismal legislative session that resulted in devastating budget cuts for people with mental illness, there is a beacon that potentially offers hope for a better day to come. A managed-care concept called disease management that the Legislature mandated in HB 2292, its reorganization of the state's health and human service agencies, could greatly improve the provision of mental health services in Texas. People with mental illness often live with a chronic disease. Symptoms and crises can be minimized through effective use of medication and treatment, and through patient and family education. In a nutshell, that's disease management. Such an approach may sound obvious, but the mental health system's resources are so limited that today it is more likely that the inadequate level of services received fail to promote recovery, and in fact may leave people with mental illness vulnerable to a perpetual cycle of crisis and inpatient care..."
