First step in mental health reform
Richmond Times-DispatchOct 24, 2016
During the first full week of October, Mental Illness Awareness Week, participants across the country work to raise awareness of mental illness, fight stigma, provide support and advocate for equal care. Here in the commonwealth, it is a time to reflect and recommit to reforming our system for delivering mental health care to improve the lives of the thousands of Virginians affected by mental illness. This important issue is a year-round focus for those families touched by mental illness and those of us in the
In 2012, the
We have seen the tragic consequences of what happens when there are too few psychiatric beds available for Virginians who need them. Time and time again a lack of access to psychiatric care is cited as the catalyst when a mental health crisis becomes a public tragedy in the news. We have taken bipartisan steps to address the challenges we face in mental health, and there is still much more that can be done. It has been my privilege to serve on the Joint Subcommittee to
Unfortunately, discussions about finding ways to ensure our most vulnerable citizens have access to critical mental health care frequently turn into debates over more funding for services. But there are steps that can be taken that will not cost taxpayers at all. The acute fact that our state's certificate of public need law (COPN) is blocking the addition of psychiatric beds is rarely mentioned. Like many of the things we have done so far on this issue, reforming COPN should be a bipartisan solution. In the month of July alone, multiple letters of intent to pursue a certificate of public need to add a total of 90 psychiatric beds to
The simple truth is that our state's certificate of public need law is only making it more difficult for us to address the shortage of beds. A good way to help ensure individuals have access to an inpatient or crisis stabilization bed when it is needed is to get government programs like COPN out of the way when they are making the problem worse. We should get rid of unnecessary regulatory barriers that delay much-needed psychiatric beds when minutes can make all the difference.
Health care is complex and there aren't any quick fixes, but we don't have to wait for the 2017 release of the pending mental health care study to fix this problem. The