Agenda - 12-15-2009 - 3b - Laserfiche WebLink

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38 MENTAL HEALTH TASK FORCE REPORT ATTACHMENT ] STATE FUNDING CUTS News & Observer Published Thu, Aug 05, 2009 Lynn Bonner -Staff Writer Mental health spending slashed The mentally ill in North Carolina will have less access to care as the state makes dramatic changes to save money in the recession. The budget approved by the legislature Wednesday cuts about $40 million, or 12 percent, in mental health treatment for people without other insurance. The cuts come despite the state's goal of providing more treatment to people where they live. The cuts and changes rip holes in an already-weak mental health system, advocates say. They predict it will be harder for poor people without insurance to get community mental health care, and more could end up in emergency departments and jails. Other changes are under way: • The legislature is phasing out a mental health service called community support, low level services to help people with mental illnesses or addictions to gain skills, such as how to manage bus schedules or a household budget, or to help a child stay out of trouble in school. Lawmakers are cutting money for the service and eventually will replace it with one that has not yet been developed. •The state will reduce spaces in group homes for children and adolescents, with plans to start a new program of high-intensity therapeutic foster care. Local mental health offices would work harder to return children to their homes, enrolling them in high-level services. Some children would be eligible for admission to community psychiatric treatment centers. These new services have not been tested or approved by the federal government, which must OK all services paid by Medicaid. The $40 million reduction to aid for uninsured patients surprised patient advocates. Michael Murray, director of the Disability Action Network, an advocacy group, said such a cut could lead to more admissions to state mental hospitals, patient pileups in emergency rooms and more mentally ill inmates in jail. "I think there's the potential for overcrowding in places they don't need to be," Murray said. "They can't stay in the least-restrictive environment because of the lack of support." Doomed to reheat it? The state does not seem to have learned from its failed efforts to improve mental health care, said Frank Edwards, a co-president of the National Alliance on Mental Illness' Wake County chapter. Programs and policies should be tested before they are launched, he said. 36