Mental Health Law Should Stress Coordinated Care, Lawmakers Told

Federal grants should do a better job of tying scattered local treatment services into comprehensive plans of care for those with mental illnesses, substance abuse problems or both, witnesses and lawmakers said at a Senate, Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee hearing Tuesday.

Grants shouldn’t dictate the details of treatment programs but should be awarded based on the results those programs get, witnesses said Tuesday.

“Everybody’s problem is a little bit unique,” observed North Carolina Republican Senator Richard M. Burr, who emphasized that local communities know best the nature of their substance abuse problems, for example. “Outcome measures” evaluating programs rather than the “processes” those programs follow should be key, Burr said. “In this town, we don’t hear outcome, we hear process and that’s disturbing to me.”

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LISTEN & LEARN @ full hearing transcript