Mixed Verdict on Olmstead Follow-Up
In February the National Conference of State Legislatures released the fourth in its series of reports describing the states' response to the Supreme Court's Olmstead decision, which required them to place persons with mental disabilities in community settings when the treatment professionals deem that setting appropriate, the individual does not object, and the placement can be “reasonably accommodated.”
Authors Wendy Fox-Grage and colleagues wrote that during that four-year period, “new initiatives to better serve people with mental illness have been minimal.”
They noted, however, that in the previous year, 18 states described efforts to enhance the quality of mental health services. Among those efforts:
Arkansas approved a Fiscal 2003-05 biennium budget of $11.6 million to strengthen the mental health system. | |||||
Nebraska enacted the Behavioral Health Reform Act to overhaul the state's psychiatric care system and to shift more funding from inpatient care to community-based care and to eliminate the seven-day waiting period for community-based services. | |||||
New York gave considerable attention to housing for mentally ill people in adult homes, with several state agencies implementing a series of actions aimed at the substandard care for this population. | |||||
Ohio is implementing evidence-based quality approaches for mental health services. | |||||
“The States' Response to the Olmstead Decision: A 2003 Update” is posted at<www.ncsl.org/programs/health/forum/olmstead/2003/03olmstd.pdf>.
