I attended the Joint Legislative Oversight Committee on Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities and Substance Abuse Services today.  I hoped to learn more about how the General Assembly plans to address the mental health crisis in North Carolina.  As you recall, patients have been abused, misused and neglected, some even dying in our state’s mental hospitals while community care facilities have failed miserably.  I thought they might offer some solutions and suggestions to address mental health reform quickly and effectively.
Not at this meeting.

I?ve been to lots of these meetings and the oversight committee meetings seem to be a good opportunity for representatives from the state agencies (who are all appearing during their work day) to tell members of the General Assembly what a good job they are doing, how well they are spending the taxpayers? money and to explain why they need more.  Usually I can understand what everyone is talking about.

Not so much with the mental health folks.  They communicate in such heavy acronym-isms, no one outside their bureaucracy could possibly understand them – leaving most of us out of meaningful discussion of this very dire problem.
 
As an example, here are some notes lifted directly out of today?s presentation on, Residential Options for Consumers with Intellectual/Developmental Disabilities.  By the way, the presenter talked like this too.

Residential Options include:

  • Community ICFs/MR
  • Community DD homes
  • Non-DD specific facilities

Providers:

  • RHA/Howells
  • VOCA
  • Life, Inc
  • ARC

Services:

  • Licensed by DHHS, DHSR
  • LME may refer consumers
  • EDS determines eligibility based on MR2 form
  • Annual re-determination by facility subject to DMA review

Other points:

  • Primary payor sources: state funds, SSI, S/A, Medicaid (personal care and CAP-MR/DD
  • If state funded or CAP-MR/DD funded, must complete SNAP (CAP-MR/DD also requires MR2 signed by physician approved by DMH/DD/SAS
  • Rates in adult care homes are based on CAP-MR/DD statewide rate per 1-4 levels of care
  • Monitored by LME and DHSR
  • There are limited LME referrals.  
  • SSI eligibility determined by DDS while S/A eligibility determined by DDS

So now you know what your state government is doing to address mental health treatment in North Carolina.  

But to really get things done, what we need is plain speak and direct ideas, as Coletti proposed in his policy report on mental health reform, his spotlight report and as Hood explained in a Daily Journal. And I promise you can understand it.