Isn't it painfully ironic to address mental illnesses while allowing people die from unattended medical conditions? Unfortunately, this is the current state of health care for many patients with mental illnesses and addictions disorders. We must work harder to provide integrated healthcare where it is easiest for patients to access. Community mental health organizations around the U.S. have long been dedicated to developing programs and advocating for policies that improve access to effective physical healthcare for people with mental illness.
After reviewing policy recommendations regarding mental illness patient morbidity and mortality and surveying community mental health organization members on their current activities and barriers, government lobbyists for mental health groups have launched a series of policy initiatives to help close the death and disability gap for people with serious mental illness.
Community Mental Health Services Improvement Act -
People with behavioral health disorders -- including depression, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia -- need access to quality healthcare that is timely, affordable, appropriate, and coordinated with the behavioral health treatments and services they receive. Currently, many people served by the mental health and substance use treatment systems are not able to access care in primary care settings due to coverage issues, stigma, and the difficulties of fitting into the fast-paced-visit model of primary care.
In the past year, the mental health community as a whole achieved a small but significant legislative victory when the 111th Congress authorized one of the key provisions in the Community Mental Health Services Act -- a new $7 million grant program, housed at the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, giving people with serious mental illnesses the promise of a healthcare home.
Health Disparities Designation -
As a key first step, one of the recommendations of the morbidity and mortality report to create a federal designation for people with serious mental illness as a distinct at-risk health disparities population, followed by the development and adaptation of materials and methods for prevention and for inclusion of this population in morbidity and mortality surveillance demographics.
Community mental health organizations and their parent national lobbyists continue to work with federal agencies and with Congress to obtain this designation as it would help to prioritize persons with serious mental illness to receive physical healthcare from community health centers.
Medicaid Chronic Care Management Demonstration -
Congress has a history of creating targeted Medicaid demonstration programs to establish the effectiveness of particular interventions. In this spirit, many national mental health organizations are seeking a $250 million Medicaid demonstration targeted toward agencies that serve people with serious mental illness to help those agencies better coordinate care and to provide baseline physical healthcare services on site.
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Linda Rosenberg is the president and CEO of the National Council for Community Behavioral Healthcare. TNC is the unifying voice of America's community-based mental health organizations and behavioral health organizations, lobbying for funding to research treatment for depression, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. Lean more at www.thenationalcouncil.org.
