2012 August 03 |

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03 Aug 2012

Mental health dollars a necessity

Walter S. Smitson is president and CEO of Central Clinic and a professor in the department of psychiatry at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine.

Hamilton County voters have been very generous in supporting services for the mentally ill, beginning with the first mental health levy in 1980. The majority has shown they want best-practices mental health care that is accessible to all residents, with measurable outcomes that move people toward self-sufficiency. However, this support is in jeopardy. As The Enquirer reported on July 29 (“Help at risk for the mentally ill”), the Hamilton County Tax Levy Review Committee has recommended that property owners pay no more than they have in the past. That could mean a funding shortfall of $18 million over the next five years because property values have decreased. This lower level of funding will bring severe budget cuts to Central Clinic and other Hamilton County state-certified mental health agencies. That means reduced services for those who most need help.

Currently, our mental health system of care for the uninsured is one in which everyone can take pride. Children under five years who need help to successfully enter kindergarten, foster children and their biological parents wanting to re-unify the family, persons involved in the criminal justice system struggling with problems of addiction and mental illness, adults with mental disorders and others with major mental illnesses can all access professionally licensed clinicians. This system has created a community that ensures its members who are struggling with mental illness have the care they need to live in harmony in the community. Nearly every family has been touched with a child who is not achieving because of emotional barriers, an adult who is struggling with mental illness or a family that exploits and is destructive to its members. To face a future where many will now go without the help they need to live successfully in society is indeed bleak.

If there is no choice except to freeze the mental health levy, agencies such as Central Clinic will stretch the dollars as far as possible and will see as many people as possible until we can one day restore the cuts. Meanwhile, it is the responsibility of every voter to be informed about the impact of cuts. We all must ensure that our neighborhoods remain healthy and that we give help to all who struggle to succeed.

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03 Aug 2012

AP Newsbreak: U.Va. Donations Double After Debacle

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Donors to the University of Virginia signaled with their checkbooks what they thought of the temporary ouster of its popular president, with donations dropping in half after her forced resignation and then doubling upon her return, figures obtained by The Associated Press show.

The public university’s governing board unexpectedly announced the resignation of Teresa A. Sullivan June 10 in a secretive move that caused uproar on the Charlottesville campus while most students were away on summer break. Sullivan, the first woman to head the university founded by Thomas Jefferson, was reinstated June 26 after large-scale protests, online petitions and angry calls by faculty, students, donors and alumni from across the country.

Bob Sweeney, the university’s senior vice president for development and public affairs, told AP that the end result of the drama was that the university had its best June for fundraising since 2008, receiving $44.4 million in cash and pledges.

“When Sullivan resigned our giving dropped in half and when she was reinstated our giving doubled,” Sweeney said.

UVa President-Fundraising.JPEG

Sweeney said at least two benefactors removed the university from their wills after Sullivan’s resignation and then called to say the school had been added back following Sullivan’s reinstatement. He also reported a significant uptick in small cash contributions of $100 or less following her reinstatement.

“There was a real galvanizing effect that happened during that period,” Sweeney said.

Sullivan, 62, is an eminent scholar of labor-force demography who came highly regarded to U.Va., one of the nation’s top universities. Previously, she had served as provost and executive vice president for academic affairs at the University of Michigan. But those on U.Va.’s 15-member governing board who led attempts to oust her said she wasn’t moving swiftly enough to address diminished funding, online education and other challenges.

In 2004, the university set a $3 billion fundraising goal. Following June’s pledges and donations, the school has raised more than $2.75 billion.

“The increase in donations upon President Sullivan’s return certainly provides strong evidence of support for her leadership from alumni and other friends of the University. It also helps confirm our judgment that fighting for President Sullivan’s reinstatement was in the best interests of the university and that we will emerge from the recent crisis stronger than ever,” Faculty Senate Chairman and U.Va. law professor George Cohen said in an email to the AP on Friday.

The university was already on pace to exceed last year’s fundraising totals for June when Sullivan resigned, raising $5.4 million in cash versus $3 million the previous year. That follows a trend in fundraising increases since Sullivan’s arrival on campus in 2010, which coincided with an improving economy. Fundraising pledges have increased by an average of $6.4 million a month since Sullivan’s arrival.

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03 Aug 2012

Aurora asking charities to register with city

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AURORA, Colo. (AP) — Aurora is asking charities raising money for theater shooting victims to register with the city to prevent fraud and give donors assurance that their money is going to a good cause.

Police chief Daniel Oates told people at a community meeting on Friday that some possible fundraising scams are being investigated.

Besides charities that are raising money, the city itself has been accepting both in-kind and monetary donations through its finance department. The city says it has established an account for the donations and is working to figure out the best way to help victims and their families with the money.

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03 Aug 2012

Utah vets with mental health issues get new building at VA

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Iraq war veteran John Angell offered blunt advice Friday as he helped dedicate a new building for mental health care at the George E. Wahlen Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center.

“The vets that aren’t receiving treatment need to suck it the hell up and just come,” said Angell. “We’re trained to push past it, so excuses, who the hell cares? Get your ass over here.”

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Angell and Vietnam War vet Stu Shipley received standing ovations from a crowd of about 100 at the dedication of a building that serves outpatient vets being treated for post traumatic stress syndrome (PTSD), military sexual trauma, substance abuse, other mental health issues and for vocational rehabilitation.

Each man told how he was reluctant, at first, to turn to the VA.

Shipley said he found himself in a canyon above Salt Lake City 20 times in the two years before he sought psychiatric care. He had his .44-magnum revolver and his dog in his lap, and each time considered suicide.

The Marine said he first went to the VA for medical care four decades ago, but didn’t realize he had severe PTSD, which contributed to drug and alcohol abuse, failed marriages and stints in jail. The VA, he said, “saves lives.”

Angell, also a Marine, called the VA’s prolonged exposure therapy, in which he was forced to look repeatedly at hard memories, was “brutal but beneficial.”

“I’m now happy. I have a positive outlook on life,” said Angell, who is studying math at the University of Utah.

The mental health outpatient building was long overdue, said Steve Young, director of the Salt Lake City VA Health Care System.

It took a year to build, and then sat vacant for nine months because of troubles with the parking lot and getting furniture. Finally, he said, “we were able to stop calling this the world’s biggest lawn ornament.”

For two decades, mental health services were delivered in modular buildings on the VA campus.

The Salt Lake VA system is getting five new mental health employees this summer as part of a nationwide effort to better treat veterans with such problems. It is also building more space for veterans who need to be hospitalized for mental health issues. The number of beds in a secure unit will increase by 11 to a total of 32 by next spring. The hospital is also adding 14 intermediate-care beds.

kmoulton@sltrib.com

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03 Aug 2012

Mental health measure mistakes

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It sounds like a joke about wacky Californians and our pop-psych fads: According to a news report, tens of millions of dollars in state money meant to treat the mentally ill have been going instead for art and drama classes, Native American sweat lodges and a “mood management” course for Latina mothers.

Funny? It would be if it weren’t true and weren’t such a corruption of voters’ intent.

In 2004, with mental health funds in decline, California voters handily approved a ballot measure calling for a special tax on millionaires to pay for expanded programs to treat the mentally ill.

The tax hike in Proposition 63 wasn’t the solution this paper recommended at the time. But it’s easy to see why 54percent of voters said OK, given how untreated mental illness contributes to crime, homelessness and the inability of good people to lead happy and productive lives.

But in 2007, California mental health officials made a change in the spending plan. They took the 20percent of Proposition 63 funds aimed at reducing the severity and length of mental illnesses for already-diagnosed patients and redirected the money to promote mental “wellness” in apparently healthy people.

This is where the art and drama classes, the sweat lodges and the mood management came in, not to mention programs involving acupuncture, nutrition, gardening, camping and horseback-riding.

The Associated Press reports that of the $7.4billion the millionaires’ tax has brought in, $1.2 billion has

gone to these preventive and early-intervention programs. Meanwhile, state spending on mental health services has continued to slip, and the California Department of Mental Health has been eliminated to save money.

With all of the committees and agencies in Sacramento, it shouldn’t have taken the AP to bring this to the public’s attention.

At least the news has caught the attention of two members of the Assembly Health Committee. One has called for oversight hearings and an audit, the other wants fresh legislation to spell out how the Proposition 63 money should be spent.

These would be healthy steps.

Some state officials think spending $1.2 billion on “wellness” programs is a smart move, including state Senate Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, who in his pre-elected-office days co-wrote Proposition 63. The officials say so-called preventative programs really do help to head off mental disorders.

But these programs are not what voters had in mind when they approved another new tax eight years ago. And they are taking money away from direct treatment.

Because few people have the knowledge to say whether or not such programs have as much impact on mental illness as programs aimed at the treating the already ill, it is up to lawmakers to gather experts and data and find out for us.

In another example of headaches created by ballot-box budgeting, California voters decreed that proceeds from a 1percent tax on incomes over $1 million be spent to help the mentally ill. The state literally cannot afford to see any of it wasted on programs that don’t address the problem.

— Los Angeles Daily News

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03 Aug 2012

AP Newsbreak: U.Va. Donations Double After…

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“When Sullivan resigned our giving dropped in half and when she was reinstated our giving doubled,” Sweeney said.

UVa President-Fundraising.JPEG

“There was a real galvanizing effect that happened during that period,” Sweeney said.

In 2004, the university set a $3 billion fundraising goal. Following June’s pledges and donations, the school has raised more than $2.75 billion.

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03 Aug 2012

Aurora charity accused of taking money and not using for shooting victims

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Aurora police are investigating a website that claims it is raising money for victims of the Aurora theater shooting but may instead be raising money for schemers.

“This is something we’re going to take very seriously,” said Officer Frank Fania, a spokesman for the Aurora Police Department. “We will prosecute anyone we can who tries to take advantage of people after this unfortunate incident.”

Fania declined to reveal what website was being investigated or the names of those behind it but said the detective conducting the investigation believes criminal charges likely will be filed.

Aurora began investigating the suspicious site after receiving tips from concerned individuals who noticed it on the Internet.

Enough concerns have been raised about other fundraising efforts that the Colorado Attorney General’s office is looking into some sites it considers suspicious. In addition, a Facebook page devoted to Aurora shooting victims is no longer publicizing efforts by private parties seeking donations.

“We’ve seen a few small cases of suspicious behavior,” said Laura Alier, an administrator for the Aurora Theater Shooting page on Facebook “There are two specific situations that we are talking to the cops about.”

She said that there’s only a limited cadre of volunteers associated with the Facebook page able to check the validity of fundraising efforts.

Deputy Attorney General Jan Zavislan, who oversees a consumer-fraud hotline, said the attorney general’s office has not received any consumer complaints regarding charitable fundraising for the Aurora theater shooting.

He said scams involving charities often go unreported because people usually make donations on the spur of the moment and don’t check later to see how the money was used.

“People always take advantage of people’s goodwill,” Zavislan said. “The question is identifying it and finding it, and if we identify it, we prosecute it.”

Because bogus charities usually go unreported, the attorney general’s office is trying to be proactive and is reviewing some of the sites seeking donations for Aurora theater shooting victims and survivors. He asks that those who encounter suspicious activity call the Attorney General’s hotline at 1-800-222-4444 or report activity online at coloradoattorneygeneral.gov.

“We are looking at some solicitations that have raised our interest,” he said. “But it’s premature to talk about what those may be.”

In another case, estranged members of the same family are accusing each other of improper fundraising.

This week, a caller to The Denver Post alleged a Facebook page seeking donations for Ashley Moser, who was seriously injured in the shooting that killed her daughter, was set up by an estranged family member who had no business raising money for Moser. The caller insisted that donations should be forwarded only to a special fund set up at Wells Fargo Bank or at helpash.org.

Two websites have sprung up to assist Farrah Soudani, 22, who was hit by shrapnel and underwent multiple surgeries that removed her spleen and a kidney. She also had to undergo a skin graft to repair a bullet wound to her left calf.

The first website soliciting donations for Soudani was set up at gofundme.com and is being managed by Victoria Albright, a friend of Soudani’s mother, Heidi Soudani. The site stated it had raised nearly $170,000 by Thursday afternoon.

Meanwhile, those on Soudani’s father’s side have set up another website that has raised nearly $70,000.

Neither of those sites is the one under investigation by Aurora police.

Farrah’s brother, Jordan Soudani, said that the site managed by Albright is also raising money for their mother.

“We just want all of the money raised for Farrah, and all of our concerns would be put to rest if a legal trust were put in place on their part that would state that Farrah would be the only beneficiary,” Jordan Soudani said.

Albright said that although money raised on her website will also go to Heidi Soudani, there’s nothing wrong with that.

“I tried working out something with them, but they are just trying to steamroll me and her mother,” Albright said. “All this mother wants to do is take care of this little girl.”

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03 Aug 2012

Medicaid expansion could save state $47.8 million yearly, mostly in mental-health services

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Read the Tulsa World continuing coverage of the health care law.

Oklahoma could save about $47.8 million a year – mostly in the cost of serving poor mental-health patients – if it accepts an expansion of the Medicaid program under the federal Affordable Care Act, a state agency estimates.

Services currently funded completely with state money would shift to Medicaid funding – allowing the state to either shift its tax money to other uses or magnify its ability to provide those services.

“I think it’s darn sure one of the selling points for accepting” the Medicaid expansion, said Michael Brose, executive director of the Mental Health Association in Tulsa.

Carter Kimble, spokesman for the Oklahoma Health Care Authority, said first-draft estimates of potential state savings with the Medicaid expansion show that the Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services could save $34 million, the Corrections Department $11.2 million, and the state Health Department $2.4 million.

Currently, only a limited number of Oklahoma adults are eligible for Medicaid. They typically fall into particular categories, such as blind or disabled. Under the Affordable Care Act, anyone who earns up to 133 percent of the federal poverty level – which would currently be $30,657 for a family of four – would be eligible for Medicaid. Oklahoma has more than 503,000 uninsured adults, and the authority estimates that 200,000 people would become Medicaid-eligible under the federal law.

However, the June U.S. Supreme Court ruling that largely found the Affordable Care Act to be constitutional also determined that state participation was essentially voluntary.

Gov. Mary Fallin has said the state probably won’t decide on whether to accept the funding until after November’s election.

Brose said that by accepting the federal funding, the state could serve more mentally ill people, give service providers a desperately needed rate increase, bring more crisis beds to northeastern Oklahoma and end up with more productive, tax-paying citizens as a result – all without any increase in state costs.

The Mental Health Association in Tulsa is working on a letter to Fallin that urges her to accept the Medicaid money, said Paul Davis, director of public policy for the association.

Mental Health Commissioner Terri White cautioned that Medicaid expansion would not cover all of the people currently served by the system and would not cover all of the services currently provided that have demonstrated long-term recovery and self-sufficiency.

“The need for behavioral-health services in the state, public and private, in many instances outpaces the availability of resources,” White said.

The Legislature has granted the Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services new authority relative to Medicaid behavioral health this session, and the department wants to serve as many Oklahomans as possible, she said.

“With that in mind, we look forward to working with the governor and Legislature to build the best possible behavioral-health system for Oklahoma,” White said.

To entice states to participate, the federal law covers 100 percent of the Medicaid expansion costs for the first three years and then gradually shifts a small portion of the cost to the states, capping at 10 percent in 2020. The state’s current Medicaid match is about 36 percent.

The federal share of the Medicaid expansion would be funded by federal taxes, including taxes imposed by the Affordable Care Act.

Kimble said the savings for the state Department of Corrections would be for indigent inmates who are treated at hospitals. Inmate medical care inside prisons is not eligible for Medicaid funding.

A 2011 Urban Institute study estimates that states would save from $13 billion to $26 billion from 2014 to 2020 because of increased Medicaid funding of mental-health services under the Affordable Care Act.

The study didn’t make cost-saving estimates for individual states.

In fiscal year 2008, state mental-health agencies nationwide spent about $36.8 billion. Medicaid paid for about 46 percent of that, and state and local funding sources paid for 45.4 percent, the study reported.

Some 79 percent of adults served by state mental-health agencies are either unemployed or outside the labor force, but 43 percent don’t have Medicaid coverage, the Urban Institute study found.

“When the (Affordable Care Act) is fully implemented, Medicaid coverage is expected to increase from 12.4 percent to 23.3 percent of individuals with mental-illness or substance-abuse disorders, and Medicaid’s mental health spending is projected to rise by 49.7 percent,” the Urban Institute study says.

Original Print Headline: Medicaid may save $47.8M

Wayne Greene 918-581-8308

wayne.greene@tulsaworld.com

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03 Aug 2012

Medicaid expansion could save state $47.8 million yearly, mostly in mental …

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