Latest California Healthline Stories
Mental Health Advocates Sue Over Governor’s Cuts
Before the governor signed the state budget, he cut about $1 billion from it. One of those line-item vetoes trims $133 million from mental health services spending for children.
According to advocates who filed a lawsuit Friday to stop it, those cuts are illegal.
“Only the state Legislature has the authority to reverse the mandate to provide these services,” Jim Preis of Mental Health Advocacy Services said.
Debate Continues Over Laura’s Law, Mental Health Care
San Francisco continues to grapple with a controversial resolution affecting treatment for severely mentally ill patients. It renews the debate over what to do about a small group of people who find themselves in and out of jails, hospitals and homelessness.
Riverside Lobbying for Raise in State Health Care Funding
Health care and government officials in Riverside County want to adjust state reimbursement rates they say are inadequate and creating a crisis in health care access. The county has the second-lowest state reimbursement rate for health care services in California.
Judges Order Sacramento County to Pay Up
The showdown in court is over for now, and Sacramento County will need to come up with a better way to fund and manage its responsibility to care for the indigent and mentally ill.
That’s the word from three recent court decisions. At the end of last week, Sacramento County, which had already been hit with a temporary restraining order, accepted a longer-binding preliminary injunction to halt cuts and closures at its three public clinics, until a new plan can be worked out — one that offers better care to the county’s indigent patients.
That legal move came just one day after a U.S. District Court judge ruled last week against the county in a different court case, ordering Sacramento County to stop its plan to scale back some mental health services.
Judge To Decide Sacramento Clinics’ Fate
Times are tough for Sacramento County — both for the indigent population and for the local lawmakers who have no money to care for them.
A preliminary injunction hearing will be held tomorrow (Friday) in Sacramento Superior Court to decide whether or not to lift a temporary restraining order that has kept the doors open at three public clinics in Sacramento County.
Feeling the pressure from budget cuts, the county earlier this month moved to shut down two clinics that had been open one day a week, and trim hours and operating expenses at the county’s only full-time clinic. That comes on top of the closures of two other clinics last year and another clinic in 2008.
Making the Most of State Mental Health Efforts
It would be tough to call it integrated medicine. According to public health experts, the state of mental health care in California is more like a crazy quilt of mixed treatments, limited funding and uncertain outcomes.
That’s precisely what the Mental Health Services Oversight and Accountability Commission hopes to change. The board was created by the Mental Health Services Act, passed by California voters in 2004. It convened Wednesday in Sacramento to iron out the details of how it hopes to evaluate the sprawling mental health system in California.
“This is a critical meeting for this commission,” said Larry Poaster, vice chair of commission.
Proposal Gives Stronger Status to Mental Health Claims
The Assembly Health Committee on Tuesday passed SB 1169 (Alan Lowenthal, D-Long Beach), which aims to raise the status of mental health claims.
“There are two problems in how mental health conditions are handled,” bill author Lowenthal said. “Plans and insurers require daily prior authorizations, but they don’t do that with physical conditions. And the second thing is that they often delay payments and authorization.”
Lowenthal said he hopes to even the mental health playing field, by requiring a tracking number to be assigned to every mental health claim, and by pushing health insurers to give mental health treatment the same urgency shown to physical treatment authorizations.
Cuts to Calif. Mental Health Care Could Leave Patients With Nowhere To Turn, Advocates Say
John Buck of Turning Point Community Programs, Patricia Ryan of the California Mental Health Directors Association and Rusty Selix of the Mental Health Association in California discussed recent funding losses.
What’s the Best Strategy for Funding Health Care Efforts in California?
Much has been made of the May 19 special election in California, and some political analysts have raised questions about what the election results say about voters’ willingness to dedicate specific revenue streams to health care programs. Two state lawmakers shared their thoughts on the issue.
Prop. 1E Pushes Voters To Reconsider Spending Priorities
Opponents say shifting funds from Proposition 63 programs will undermine mental health programs and cost the state more money in the long run. Supporters of the ballot measure say the money is needed now to help the state avert financial crisis.