Gov. Mike Easley today announced a three-part plan to return accountability to the state’s mental health system and make it more responsive to the needs of patients and their families. He will ask the legislature to give the secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services clear authority over the local management entities (LMEs) created by the 2001 reform legislation, change the law to require all deaths in hospitals be reported to the state, and expand the state’s mobile crisis teams that provide hospital services across the state.

“Secretary Dempsey Benton needs to be the one to evaluate the LMEs, to appoint the LME directors, and be able to fire the LME directors, and to do that in a timely fashion. He does not have that authority today,” said Easley. “We need to allow the secretary to reduce the number of LMEs to avoid variations in quality of care and to make it possible to hold these programs accountable. It also would reduce significantly the administrative cost.”

Easley also said he will propose a change in the law to speed up the appeals process when the department attempts to remove providers who are not properly caring for patients. Currently, providers are hiring lawyers and stalling the appeals process so they continue to be paid for services during the appeals, which can take as long as two years.

Easley will also ask that the law be changed to require all deaths in the state’s hospitals to be reported to the State Medical Examiner. Benton has already changed department policy so the state’s psychiatric hospitals must report deaths, but Easley wants that written into state law for all medical facilities. He also said by keeping 60 hospital beds at Dix, there will be more beds for mental health patients in the state’s hospitals than currently exist. Easley also wants to expand the department’s Mobile Crisis Teams which are made up of psychiatrists and nurses who move around the state to provide psychiatric services in areas that do not have them. Easley will ask for funds in the legislative session to expand the teams statewide.

Easley announced that the Department will submit a plan to the federal government to allow differential rate for mental health community support services. Differential rates will allow the department to set fees paid for mental health services to be more appropriate for the type of care being given, instead of the current practice of paying the same amount for every service provided by the local management entities.