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39 <br />MENTAL HEALTH TASK FORCE REPORT <br />In 2001, a state mental health reform resulted in increased short-term stays in hospitals and <br />expensive, poorly monitored care in local communities. "They didn't plan it well then, they're not <br />planning it well now," Edwards said. "That really does honestly scare me." <br />Legislature 'being forced' <br />The legislature has no choice but to make changes, said Rep. Verla Insko, a Chapel Hill Democrat <br />who helps run an oversight committee on mental health. <br />"The problem is right now, we're being forced into this," she said. "We don't have the option of <br />taking a lot of time doing in-depth planning. What we can do as an alternative is watch very closely <br />and be ready to make adjustments." <br />The cut in community support, the basic mental health service, will be particularly hard on rural <br />patients, said Barry Graham, chief operating officer at Advantage Behavioral Healthcare, which <br />provides the service. <br />Rural counties don't have the therapists with advanced degrees that the more intensive community <br />care programs require, Graham said. That leaves community support, Graham said, which legislators <br />have targeted for cuts because of past financial abuses by providers. <br />A News & Observer investigation last year found that the state had wasted more than $400 million <br />on community support in less than two years. A recent legislative report said the state wasted even <br />more. <br />Cuts will hurt patients, Graham said, while companies committing fraud will find a way to survive. <br />"They are the ones who will suffer from reform," he said of patients. "A crook will find a way to <br />beat the system." <br />Hospital nav increased <br />One of the few significant increases in the mental health budget is $12 million to allow the state to <br />pay local hospitals that agree to short-term treatment for mentally ill patients. <br />Last year now-Gov. Beverly Perdue campaigned on how she would handle the mental health system, <br />promising accountability and a focus on rural and underserved areas. She promised to develop <br />mental health courts, programs that seek to keep mentally ill people out of trouble. She also said she <br />would improve care by creating "centers of excellence" at colleges and universities. There's no <br />additional money for courts in the budget and no mention of "centers of excellence." <br />Perdue's spokeswoman, Chrissy Pearson, pointed to the money that will open more local hospital <br />beds as evidence of Perdue's attention to improving care. <br />With money from past budgets, the state was able to reserve 75 local hospital beds, according to <br />DHHS, though 19 fell into disuse at the end of June because the budget had not passed. <br />37 <br />