Mental health reform a priority
Wednesday, February 27th, 2008
By Staff
Raleigh
While editorials in The Fayetteville Observer and other newspapers have been busy engaging in finger-pointing to blame the current problems in our state’s mental health system, rest assured that Gov. Mike Easley and his administration have been working to make sure it gets fixed.
It is clear that the rapid change in the mental health system led to problems, no doubt. But to insinuate that nothing has been done, or that these problems were ignored, is flat wrong. Regardless of what has happened in the past, we want to remain focused on solving problems for those in need of services. Consider the following:
Last year, the state Department of Health and Human Services and the administration recognized that some mental health community service providers were exploiting the system, inflating charges and wasting tax dollars. I informed a reporter in an interview that the governor demanded that the department take immediate action to audit the finances and practices of providers, adjust rates in cooperation with responsible providers, open fraud investigations and toughen criteria for would-be providers and to screen inappropriate service requests. These changes started in early 2007, as soon as it became apparent that community support was open to abuse. (more…)
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