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Schwertner: Mental health issues should remain a priority

Abilene Reporter-News
Aug 27, 2016

Aug. 27--State Sen. Charles Schwertner told those gathered Friday at the Mental Health America of Abilene's second annual symposium that in the complex world of mental health policy, there are no easy answers -- and even novel solutions often bring their fair share of new challenges.

Schwertner, an orthopedic surgeon, grew up in Abilene, where he spent many years watching his mother, Kaye Schwertner, who had a "long, distinguished career" in serving people with mental illnesses.

Kaye Schwertner was director of nursing for Abilene'sMHMR Center for five years and then worked for the Texas Department of Health for 20 years, working as a surveyor, he said.

As chairman of the Texas Senate's Health and Human Services Committee, Schwertner said he has worked to create a renewed focus on the state's ailing mental health care system.

And as "leading voice" on the Senate's finance committee, he said he has "fought to increase funding on mental health by more than $500 million over the last four years."

Those new dollars have been used to increase access to community mental health options, expand wraparound services, develop a robust crisis intervention system, and implement a number of new programs designed to divert people with mental illness from county jails into more appropriate and cost-effective care settings, he said.

But adequately addressing the many challenges that plague the system is complicated and ever-changing, he said.

For example, as local mental health authorities have begun to provide more effective crisis stabilization services, thousands of low-acuity mental health patients are being diverted from overburdened state hospital systems into more appropriate care settings.

But those state hospitals now find themselves struggling to treat those left.

"The most severe forensic and high-acuity patients have come to increasingly dominate the populations of our state hospitals," he said.

By the same token, as effort has established more successful jail diversion programs throughout the state, there has been a corresponding increase in inpatient forensic treatment in the state hospital system.

In June, Schwertner called a hearing of the Health and Human Services Committee to discuss jail diversion, capacity in state hospitals and access in the state mental health care system.

Through that hearing, it became clear that examining the state's approach to inpatient care is vital, as is eliminating remaining barriers that prevent the criminal justice system from working with the state's mental health care system in ways that best represent the interests of both individuals and society, he said.

One of Texas' most troubling and acute challenges is providing adequate care and support to children of "our beleaguered foster care system," he said.

Texas now faces a pronounced capacity crisis in foster care, a reality that keeps some children in psychiatric hospitals well beyond medical necessity and forces others to sleep in hotels and CPS offices because there is no other place for them to go, he said.

Of 30,000 children in the Texas foster care system, 1 in 6 are considered high needs with severe emotional and psychological problems.

Texas cannot make progress in improving access to mental health care without first addressing a staggering shortfall of mental health professionals, Schwertner said.

The problem is particularly dire in rural areas, with nearly 200 of the state's 254 counties designated as mental health professional shortage areas.

As part of the previous legislative session, Schwertner launched the Mental Heath Professional Loan Repayment Program, a state-funded grant program providing student loan repayment to mental health professionals who agree to treat patients in poorly served regions.

"The program will soon be making commitments to more than 100 new mental health providers," he said.

But although that's an encouraging start, it only "scratches the surface," he said, future growth requiring increased collaboration between Texas' medical schools and the mental health care system.

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(c)2016 the Abilene Reporter-News (Abilene, Texas)

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