"You cannot watch the news for very long without seeing some new tragedy where the perpetrator is reported to have a mental illness. More than 13 million Americans have schizophrenia, bipolar disorder or major depression, and the majority of them are going without treatment. You only need to look at the most recent mass shootings or the overpopulated prison systems to see that our current mental health system is broken, and the time for action is now.
When these tragedies strike, politicians, media and victims cry out about the state of mental healthcare in our country, and how we must do something to solve it. But what do we do? How do we do it? As politicians fail to come to an agreement, people suffer further every day. One thing we can agree on — our current mental health system is in a crisis that demands swift and effective action.
As a member of Congress, I have heard this call to action, and I am doing something about it. I am a non-practicing registered nurse who once served as the Chief Psychiatric Nurse at the Veterans Affairs Hospital in Dallas. My background and work on this issue motivated me to join forces with Congressman Tim Murphy, R-Pa., to offer our voices and push for reform through the Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act.
Congressman Murphy spent a year investigating our country's mental health system on the Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations. He is also a psychologist in the Navy Reserve Medical Service Corps. Together we bring firsthand, expert knowledge from the field of mental healthcare to this bill. We know the people this bill will help, and we know how important this bill is to patients, families and the community as a whole.
While working as the chief psychiatric nurse for the Veterans Affairs hospital in Dallas, I saw the inadvertent harm caused by federal mental health policies. For example, the Institutions for Mental Diseases exclusion, which prevents Medicaid from paying for care received in a mental health facility if the hospital has more than sixteen psychiatric beds. This outdated policy is a major cause of increased homelessness and incarceration. People who need treatment are turned away because of this rule, day after day. This bill would allow more available beds in care facilities.
Along with repealing the IMD Exclusion, there are several other policies that would help patients access the treatment they deserve. Small and targeted changes to the Health Information Portability and Accountability Act, expanding Assisted Outpatient Treatment and restructuring the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration were the other large federal policies we decided to tackle.
We have heard countless stories of caregivers or family members who were denied access to life-saving information regarding an adult child's medical condition that ended tragically. Clarifying HIPAA so that those situations do not arise, based on strict criteria and the discretion of the physician, is vital for health and safety purposes. While we must respect patients' rights, we cannot leave families helpless because of an outdated and frequently misinterpreted law.
Assisted Outpatient Treatment, which has been established in 45 states and the District of Columbia, is a proven and successful jail diversion program that directs treatment in the community for patients with serious mental illness who are difficult to treat. AOT has been shown to reduce homelessness, incarceration and emergency room visits by about 70 percent for participants. Our legislation offers support to the states that have implemented AOT programs and encourages the remaining states to adopt AOT laws. This bill is an important first step to get people out of jail, off the streets and into the care they deserve.
While SAMHSA implements many successful programs across the behavioral wellness spectrum, individuals with severe mental illness continue to subsist without basic care. A recent Government Accountability Office report showed that SAMHSA's approach to interagency coordination is lacking.
Our bill refocuses and revamps SAMHSA to be the preeminent federal agency that mental illness deserves, led by a newly created assistant secretary for Mental Health and Substance Use Disorder under the secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services. A crisis this serious requires a professional position committed to it.
Our mental health system is in crisis. There are recurring cries from across the nation calling for the government to do something about it. The Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act responds to those cries, but more importantly, it offers real, sustained help to those who have been neglected by the current system." - Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson
Source: Washington Examiner
