Mental-health care changing too fast for providers, it says By M. Paul Jackson JOURNAL REPORTER Friday, August 31, 2007
North Carolina’s mental-health system is changing too fast for its providers to keep up.
That was the finding from a consultant’s report analyzing the state’s mental-health system. According to the report, some mental-health patients have found it tough to get appropriate care because smaller mental-health agencies are struggling to manage within the system.
The 91-page report was released Wednesday. The N.C. Department of Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities and Substance Abuse Services commissioned it in the spring. It was written by Alice Lin, a consultant to the state’s mental-health division.
According to the report, the state has not effectively communicated the system’s changes to its Local Management Entities, the 25 regional agencies that oversee mental-health care in North Carolina.
“In the rush to complete structural changes, the public partners have lost sight of the effect on consumers,” the report read. “There has been insufficient joint effort at resolving consumer access problems.”
The report reviewed seven of the 25 regional agencies that oversee mental-health care. It said that the agencies have problems consistently managing state money and have not received enough help to improve access to care for patients.
The report comes six years after the state made sweeping changes to its mental-health system. In 2001, it shifted care from state mental-health hospitals to local agencies to help keep patients within their communities. (more…)
