Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report Highlights State Actions on Mental Health Issues

A summary of news coverage on recent state developments in mental health appears below.

• California: Gov. Gray Davis (D) signed legislation (SB 716) on Aug. 6 that "strengthens the state's psychotherapist-client privilege" and offers "added protection" for mental health patients, the Stockton Record reports. Under the new law, sponsored by state Sen. Michael Machado (D), the state psychotherapist-client privilege would apply to a patient who "confides in" an individual that the patient "reasonably believes" has a mental health license, regardless of whether the "counselor was not licensed, certified or registered" with the state (Hartsoe, Stockton Record, 8/10).
• Maine: Foster's Daily Democrat reports that the state's Seacoast region has a lack of hospital beds for psychiatric services after an inpatient mental health facility at Strafford Guidance Center closed and the psych ward at Portsmouth Regional Hospital shifted to outpatient services. According to Linda Saunders, acting director of the Maine Division of Behavioral Health, other acute psychiatric facilities and New Hampshire Hospital in Concord, N.H., have met the "need" for acute physiatric beds (Morin, Foster's Daily Democrat, 8/13).
• Oklahoma: The Daily Oklahoman reports that the Tulsa Alliance for the Mentally Ill has accused the Oklahoma Department of Mental Health of "discriminating" against mentally ill patients allegedly "dumped on communities incapable of serving them." In a complaint filed with HHS' Office for Civil Rights, the group has asked the federal government to extend mental health services at Eastern State Hospital in Vinita, which has shifted "non-criminal" mentally ill patients into community-based care over the past two years -- a move that the group called a "dumping action." The group also said that the "ongoing transition" of low-income patients from Parkside Hospital to other Tulsa County facilities resulted from "poor planning" by state officials (AP/Daily Oklahoman, 8/9). Last month, Parkside officials said that the hospital could "no longer afford to fill the gap left by the downsizing" of Eastern State two years ago (Kurt, AP/Daily Oklahoman, 7/27).
• Oregon: After two years and a week of "particularly intense" negotiations, the Multnomah County Board of Commissioners on Aug. 9 approved the first phase of the county's "long-awaited" mental health reform plan, the Portland Oregonian reports. The board, on a 5-0 vote, approved the first six of 18 proposed "action steps" in a proposal -- called the "Gap Plan" -- designed to "fill the gap" after the Crisis Triage Center at Providence Memorial Center closed July 31. Under the plan, the county will establish crisis phone lines, outpatient clinics, mobile crisis teams, a unit to evaluate "dangerous" patients, "improved alternatives" to hospital beds and "better coordination" of acute care to "reduce costly hospital care" for mentally ill patients. Officials predict that the plan will reduce hospital costs by $3.6 million over the next three years. However, the board postponed a "potentially wrenching" decision about "how to pay" for the plan until next month (Colburn, Portland Oregonian, 8/10). A consultant hired to "crunch the budget numbers" for the plan found two weeks ago that the county has $4.7 million less than expected to address the "troubled" mental heath system (Colburn, Portland Oregonian, 8/3).