Easley seeks power to fix mental health

An appointee's 2001 letter contradicts the governor's claim that his administration tried to stop the changes

RALEIGH -- Gov. Mike Easley called on state legislators Tuesday to give his administration more authority to fix the state's troubled mental health system.

Though he said he was not attempting to lay blame for the problems, the governor repeatedly pointed to the General Assembly and local mental health agencies as those primarily responsible for bungling the 2001 reform plan. Easley again contended that his administration "vigorously" opposed the plan from the start -- a version of history that does not square with the written record or the statements of the bill's primary sponsor.

Implemented by the Easley administration over the past six years, the reforms dismantled an established system of county-run mental health offices and sought to pay businesses to do the work. It also sought to reduce the size of the state's four psychiatric hospitals in favor of more treatment in the community.

"We had our concerns about the reform of 2001," Easley, a Democrat, said Tuesday. "We believed that it was a privatization that went too far too quickly. ... Essentially, what you have is privatization with no accountability. What we've seen is what we were afraid we were going to see."

The governor called a rare news conference two days after the completion of a five-part series in The News & Observer about the state's misadventure into mental health reform.

The newspaper's investigation showed how the state wasted more than $400 million in public money while providing fewer critical services to patients than before the reform was launched. It chronicled widespread abuse of patients in state mental hospitals and highlighted 82 avoidable deaths in those facilities. It also showed that state officials made it easy for private companies to get into the mental health business and collectively charge hundreds of millions to taxpayers.

Easley's administration set the reimbursement rates and wrote the rules. After the rules are approved by federal authorities, however, they are difficult to change.

'Now is a good time'

Easley said the issue of mental health was now in the spotlight.

"I'm surprised these stories didn't run a year ago," Easley said. "And, since they did run, I think legislators' attention is focused on this. Now is a good time for us to ask for these reforms. I think most of them over there don't know what really goes on in mental health."

The governor said Dempsey Benton, whom he appointed to head the state Department of Health and Human Services, is the right man to wield that increased power.

Easley said Benton needs more authority to stop payments to private companies taking advantage of taxpayers. The law affords those firms a lengthy appeals process.

"There's going to be no more babysitting and taking children to the movies for $61 an hour, or taking kids to the pools for $61 an hour," Easley said. "Some providers are abusing the appeals process currently under the law. They hire expensive lawyers, they hold press conferences about how they declare their innocence. They're stalling so they can continue to get paid."

Easley said he will also push for the authority to directly appoint the boards that run the state's 25 regional mental health agencies, known as Local Management Entities. Currently, county commissioners make those appointments. Benton also needs the authority to "fire" local management groups that perform poorly or consolidate them, the governor said.

"The problem is the LMEs do not report to the state," Easley said. "Nor are they accountable to the patients. ... We need dramatic change and we need it quickly, hopefully in this short session."