Tazewell mental health provider questions state's funding cuts
A colorful “Happy birthday to you” sign hangs on the wall at 1423 Valle Vista, but there are no celebrants wishing the birthday boy well.
The home is so cold that one can almost see one’s breath. A phone rings but no one answers. The shades are drawn and the home is now only a void where five people once lived — three for more than 15 years. Tazwood is working on plans to open the group home as apartment housing for less developmentally delayed individuals — a costly project for which funding has not yet been identified.
Those five developmentally disabled and mentally ill patients were forced from their home because of state funding cuts to Tazwood Mental Health Center. While the clients were able to stay in this area, the move was a hard one for them because of the nature of their illnesses.
The group home, also known as a Community Integrated Living Arrangement, is so far the only program Tazwood has cut due to declining state funding for mental health programs. And while many mental health care facilities across the state have had to make similar unsavory choices, providers are hearing a broken record from Springfield singing the same tired song of decades past.
In the 1980s, the state emptied several mental health institutions — including the George A. Zeller Zone Center in Peoria. The move was touted as a way to give mental health care patients more independence, but the reality was that it would save the state money because it costs far less to house a patient in a community group home than a big institution.
Now, Gov. Pat Quinn has announced the “Active Community Care Transition” plan, by which the state would transition mental health patients from institutions. The state will spend $15 million on a Chicago-area program aimed at moving people with disabilities out of institutions and into homes of their own.
Home First Illinois will develop about 100 units of accessible affordable housing for 145 people over the next three years. Yet not a sound is heard in a once-vibrant CILA that the state could not properly fund to keep the doors open. Quinn says he would eventually like to see the program expanded statewide.
State Funded Mental Health Insurance - News
The group home, also known as a Community Integrated Living Arrangement, is so far the only program Tazwood has cut due to declining state funding for mental health programs. And while many mental health care facilities across the state have had to
Peter Shumlin to draft legislation that addresses the mental health treatment crisis caused when the acute-care state hospital beds were removed from the system. The governor launched the process in December when he declared patients would never go
The former ABC sports commentator is holding talks around Western Australia's wheatbelt as part of a State Government funded mental health initiative called One Life. Mr Mitchell says some people suffering mental illnesses like depression are reluctant
The changes could prove crucial to the estimated 1.5 million children and adults in the United States affected by autism spectrum disorders, as the DSM is often used as a guideline to establish treatment, insurance coverage and access to healthcare and
said Darcy Wells, New York State Public Employees Federation spokeswoman. “This is about access to those most in need. They are basically abandoning these people.” The state Office of Mental Health issued a public notice Tuesday of Kingsboro's closing.
State Roundup: Iowa Reconsiders Lawmakers ... - Kaiser Health News
Two bills introduced in the Iowa House last week would curtail benefits for lawmakers. ... House File 2118 also removes per diem and daily allowances from inclusion in lawmakers’ pension calculations, but also requires members and employees of the General Assembly to pay a portion of their health-insurance premiums. That premium payment would have to be at least $100 a month (Noble, 1/30).
Texas Tribune : Peter Carmel And Bruce Malone: The TT Interview American Medical Association President Peter Carmel, a New Jersey-based pediatric neurosurgeon, and Texas Medical Association President Bruce Malone, an Austin orthopedic surgeon, sat down with The Texas Tribune to talk about the Medicare cuts that physicians face, Texas' decision to challenge federal health reform in court, and state lawmakers' efforts to curb abortions and slash funding to Planned Parenthood (Ramshaw and Tan, 1/31).
Health News Florida/The Florida Current : House Budget Spreads Cuts Across Agencies The Florida House of Representatives on Friday released a $69.2 billion budget that frees up money for schools and avoids the deep cuts to hospitals proposed by Gov. Rick Scott. The full budget released Friday, along with related bills discussed this week in committees, would address funding shortfalls for state courts, school construction and the Agency for Persons with Disabilities (Pillow, 1/27).
Reuters : Illinois Facing "Financial Disaster": Watchdog Illinois could see its pile of overdue bills climb to an unprecedented $35 billion in five years if the state fails to rein in pension and other costs, a watchdog group said in a report released on Monday. ... The rise was pegged largely to an unsustainable increase in the state's costs for Medicaid, the health care program for the poor that is jointly funded by states and the federal government (Pierog, 1/30).
The CT Mirror : Aetna To Pay Docs To Coordinate Care Aetna announced Monday that it will launch a patient-centered medical home program in Connecticut and New Jersey to reward primary care physicians who more actively coordinate and manage their patients' care. Doctors who meet certain requirements will be eligible to get a quarterly care coordination payment for each Aetna patient they treat, although Aetna Medicare patients are not included. The program is intended to be used across the country but is beginning in two states (Levin Becker, 1/30).