News and Commentary from the

Treatment Advocacy Center

November 2019

Below is a summary of recent developments and compelling stories from news outlets across the country that help to highlight America's broken mental health treatment system, and ways we can help fix it.

NYC Media Calls for Renewed Focus on Severe Mental Illness

In New York City, a series of high-profile incidents spurred renewed focus on the treatment of those with severe mental illness. The New York Daily News editorial board called for greater use of Kendra’s Law, noting the valuable tool is not used nearly enough. The New York Post’s editorial board cited TAC’s statistics on bed loss to argue that the Cuomo administration has failed to make severe mental illness a priority. In the New York Times, Dr. Ken Rosenberg sounded a positive note, saying “we are no longer standing by helplessly as our family members get thrown away by society without care, taking outdated medicines, living in jail cells or on the streets.”

"Mental Illness Behind Bars: The Hard Lessons of Orleans Parish"

Undark's takes a deep dive into the provision of mental health care in the jails of Louisiana’s Orleans Parish. Treatment Advocacy Center Executive Director John Snook explains, "There is no way to provide good mental health care in a jail.Even the best-funded jail, with the most effective mental health services in the country, is still a failure." Read that story here.

Why it’s so hard to force people to get mental-health treatment in Pennsylvania

The Philadelphia Inquirer investigates the pain caused by Pennsylvania's outdated treatment laws and the promise posed by the Commonwealth’s new AOT law. Longtime Treatment Advocacy Center supporter Nina McDaniel noted, “If this law was used, maybe people with mental illness wouldn’t end up in jail or homeless… and maybe families wouldn’t be traumatized.” Pennsylvania passed the first major update to its AOT law in decades last year. Read the article here.

Senator Harris Releases Plan to Provide Mental Health Care on Demand

2020 democratic presidential nominee, Kamala Harris, released her mental health reform plan on Monday. Senator Harris tweeted "Our country is in a mental health crisis. Too many Americans are silently suffering with no relief in sight.” Highlights of Harris's plan include increasing the use of AOT, repealing the IMD exclusion and doubling the number of treatment beds nationwide. For more information on Senator Harris's plan click here.

Remembering Gina "GG" Burns

The advocacy community lost a treasured champion this month. Gina “GG” Burns passed away on November 6^th, surrounded by friends and family in Alabama. GG was a tireless advocate tireless, who never stopped fighting for her son and others with severe mental illness. In photos from events across the nation, GG can be seen giving support to her friends in the advocacy community – always dressed in joyful, vibrant colors and always beaming. We will continue fighting for things to be better, in Kentucky and everywhere, in GG’s honor.

SPOTLIGHT: Treatment Advocacy Center Celebrates Groundbreaking CMS Announcement Expanding Access to Mental Illness Care

First-of-its-kind waiver blunts decades-old discriminatory Medicaid policy that spurred nationwide bed shortage crisis

CMS announced that the District of Columbia has been granted a "first-of-its-kind" waiver of the IMD exclusion, a decades-old federal law that hinders states' ability to provide hospital care for mental illness. With their waiver approved, DC may now seek Medicaid reimbursement for care provided in certain mental health facilities defined as "institutions for mental disease.

The Treatment Advocacy Center's #aBedInstead campaign highlights how disastrous the IMD exclusion has been for individuals in psychiatric crisis.

"For decades, the IMD exclusion has stood in the way of desperately-needed hospital care for people with mental illness, forcing them into our jails, emergency rooms and streets," said

John Snook, executive director of the Treatment Advocacy Center. "This federally sanctioned discrimination against people with mental illness is medically, legally and morally indefensible. DC's waiver will avert tragedy, promote recovery and point the way forward for a nation that has abandoned its most vulnerable citizens."

HHS Secretary Alex Azar echoed these sentiments in the CMS comment yesterday, stating, "For too long, our system has failed to provide Americans with serious mental illness and their families the treatment and assistance that they need."

Next Round of Federal Assisted Outpatient Treatment (AOT) Grants Announced!

Earlier this week, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) announced the next round of Assisted Outpatient Treatment (AOT) federal grant funding. These grant awards give communities the opportunity to access up to $1M a year for four years to implement new AOT programs. If you know a community that may be interested in applying, please do not hesitate to have them contact us. Tell them to act fast – applications are due January 24, 2020!

RESEARCH WEEKLY: November Recap

In the November research round up our highlighted data point of the month is:

Only three states are at parity for payments to providers for mental healthcare compared to treatments for physical health conditions.

It has been more than 10 years since the passage of the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act, which was a federal law passed in 2008 that requires equal coverage of mental health and substance use treatment options to that of physical health treatments. Yet, revealed by a report from Milliman that was released last week, only three states are at parity in provider payments for mental health office visits compared to primary care office visits. In fact, for 11 states, provider payments for mental healthcare are more than 50% lower than in primary care.

If you are interested in reading the research highlights from this month you can click here

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