Gov.
Watchdog
Details
Stunning
Failures
Of
Mental
Health
System
in
Blistering
New
Report
*
*
O&I
Hearing
Set
for
2/11
*
*
Nonpartisan
GAO:
"Interagency
coordination
for
programs
supporting
individuals
with
serious
mental
illness
is
lacking."
For
Immediate
Release:
Thursday,
February
5,
2014
Contact:
Murphy
Press,
202.225.2301
WASHINGTON,
DC
-
The
House
Energy
and
Commerce
Subcommittee
on
Oversight
and
Investigations,
chaired
by
Rep.
Tim
Murphy
(R-PA),
today
released
a
stunning
new
report
from
the
nonpartisan
Government
Accountability
Office
entitled,
"Mental
Health:
HHS
Leadership
Needed
to
Coordinate
Federal
Efforts
Related
to
Serious
Mental
Illness."
The
government
watchdog's
report
highlights
that,
despite
over
110
distinct
programs
across
eight
federal
agencies
identified
and
billions
of
dollars
committed
annually
to
them,
the
federal
mental
health
system
has
serious
shortfalls
in
getting
individuals
with
serious
mental
illnesses
like
schizophrenia,
bipolar
disorder,
and
chronic
depression much
needed
treatment
and
services.
The
report
makes
specific
criticism
of
the
Substance
Abuse
and
Mental
Health
Services
Administration,
which
is
statutorily
directed
by
Congress
to
both
coordinate
federal
mental
health
programs
and
serve
as
the
lead
public
health
agency
for
those
individuals
with
mental
illness.
GAO
stated,
"Although
SAMHSA
is
charged
with
promoting
coordination
across
the
federal
government
regarding
mental
illness,
its
efforts
to
lead
coordination
–
specifically
on
serious
mental
illness
–
across
agencies
have
been
lacking."
"This
GAO
report
is
a
much-needed
wake-up
call.
The
federal
government's
approach
to
addressing
mental
illness
is
a
convoluted
and
disjointed
mess,"
said
Murphy,
who
is
also
a clinical
psychologist treating
soldiers
with
Post
Traumatic
Stress
and
Traumatic
Brain
Injury
as
a
member
of
the
Navy
Reserve
Medical
Service
Corps.
"Shame
on
us
if
we
don't
take
action
and
work
on
fixing
the
system-wide
failures
identified
in
this
report
so
that
we
can
focus
resources
on
helping
those
in
desperate
need
of
medical
services
for
treatment
of
schizophrenia,
bipolar
disorder,
and
chronic
depression."
Murphy
announced
that
his
Subcommittee
on
Oversight
and
Investigations
will
hold
a
hearing
on
Wednesday,
February
11
at
10:00
a.m.
in
room
2123
of
the
Rayburn
House
Office
Building
to
review
the
report.
The
hearing
is
entitled,
"Federal
Efforts
on
Mental
Health:
Why
Greater
HHS
Leadership
is
Needed."
In
its
review,
GAO
"identified
112
federal
programs
that
generally
supported
individuals
with
serious
mental
illness
in
fiscal
year
2013.
The
majority
of
these
programs
addressed
broad
issues,
such
as
homelessness,
that
can
include
individuals
with
serious
mental
illness.
The
programs
were
spread
across
eight
federal
agencies
...
Agencies
had
difficulty
identifying
all
programs
supporting
individuals
with
serious
mental
illness
because
they
did
not
always
track
whether
or
not
such
individuals
were
among
those
served
by
the
program.
Agencies
also
varied
in
which
programs
they
identified
because
they
had
different
definitions
of
what
such
a
program
might
be.
Such
inconsistency
limits
the
potential
comparability
across
programs."
In
2013
and
2014,
the
Energy
and
Commerce
Subcommittee
on
Oversight
and
Investigations
conducted
a
thorough
review
of
the
federal
mental
health
systems,
releasing
a
report
on
its
findings
in
May
2014.
To
address
the
shortfalls
in
treatment
of
severe
mental
illness,
Murphy
introduced
the
bipartisan
Helping
Families
in
Mental
Health
Crisis
Act
in
December
2013.
Two
major
portions
of
that
bill
were
signed
into
law
in
the
113th
Congress.
Murphy
is
currently
preparing
to
reintroduce
the
legislation of
his
bill
in this
new
Congress.
The
Majority
Memorandum,
a
witness
list,
and
witness
testimony
will
be
available
here
as
they
are
posted.
###
Background
on
the
Helping
Families
in
Mental
Health
Crisis
Act:
Dr.
Murphy
authored
the
bipartisan
Helping
Families
in
Mental
Health
Crisis
Act
following
a
year-long
investigation
into
the
nation's
broken
mental
health
system.
Nationwide
support
for
his
legislation
to
grow
from
newspaper
editors,
physicians,
and
parents
of
children
with
mental
illness.
The
legislation
includes
provisions
to
increase
hospital
beds
and
proper
care
while
decreasing
criminalization
for
people
with
serious
types
of
mental
illness;
reform
the
Health
Insurance
Portability
and
Accountability
Act
(HIPAA)
and
Family
Educational
Rights
and
Privacy
Act
(FERPA)
to
increase
family
access
to
information
and
eliminate
barriers
to
communication
between
families
and
providers;
permit
federal
Medicaid
dollars
to
be
used
to
pay
for
acute
inpatient
psychiatric
treatment
by
creating
an
exception
to
the
current
Institutions
for
Mental
Diseases
(IMD)
exclusion
in
Medicaid;
expand
effective
Assisted
Outpatient
Treatment
(AOT)
services;
increase
funding
to
the
National
Institute
of
Mental
Health
(NIMH);
re-appropriate
the
budget
of
the
federal
Substance
Abuse
and
Mental
Health
Services
Administration
(SAMHSA)
to
increase
support
for
programs
designed
to
help
those
with
the
most
severe
cases
of
mental
illness.
###
Murphy
Press
|
Congressman
Tim
Murphy
(PA-18)
2332
Rayburn
House
Office
Building
|
Washington,
DC
20515
(202)
225-2301
|
(202)
225-1844
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