Rep. Charles McBurney (R-Jacksonville) wants to reduce that number by standardizing the use of mental health courts, and expanding the scope of so-called community-based care organizations, helping them treat patients for longer. At the Senate committee hearing Thursday, Kana Enomoto, acting administrator of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, said HIPAA gives more flexibility than many doctors realize.
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And that’s a big reason why Thomas Insel, the director of the National Institute of Mental Health for the past 13 years, is joining the Life Sciences division of Alphabet, the newly formed parent company of Google. Even with successful programs like these, however, the agency representatives acknowledged there is more progress to be made, especially in the way mental health is discussed and perceived.
Mental health care policy has historically been paired with gun control laws in Congress, making it a consistently complicated and drawn-out battle.
Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., is the first to admit that the Newtown massacre – and the spate of mass-shootings since then – are propelling his bipartisan bill to overhaul the nation’s “broken” mental health system. But both Murphy and Cassidy said reforming the mental health system should also be seen as a separate issue.
The bill would establish a new office at the Department of Health and Human Services devoted totally to oversight of the federal government’s role in mental health care, headed by an assistant secretary of mental health and substance abuse disorders. Susan Collins, R-Maine, told a story about a man with schizophrenia named Will who killed his mother in a psychotic state. But it’s also true that while research indicates that people with serious mental illnesses do pose a modestly higher risk of violence, most people who are mentally ill are not violent.
The last meeting, sparked by the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary shooting that left 27 dead in Newton, Connecticut, called for an urgent, bipartisan solution to the country’s gaps in access to mental health care. “We wanted to make a difference, and we felt strongly that this was an issue that needed more attention”, said Chris Foreman. But his legislation is one among several on the topic introduced in this Congress, including a bill sponsored by Alexander.
“When a bill gets too large it can proverbially collapse under its own weight”, McBurney says.
Murphy also said he was confident Congress will act to reform the system. “There is inescapable momentum behind mental health reform in this Congress. I wish the momentum wasn’t before us because of these mass tragedies, but the reality is, you have a really unlikely combination of conservative Republicans and progressive Democrats in the House and the Senate on the same path forward in a way you don’t find with nearly any other issue”.
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“Part of this requires Community Mental Health Centers to move away from what we thinks works with people to what we know what works with people”, said Kristina Hannon, Vice President of Behavioral Health for St. Joseph’s Family Guidance Center.
