Mental hospitals warehoused the sick. Congress wants to let them try again.

Key Facts

• New Jersey Rep. Frank Pallone, the top Democrat on the Energy and Commerce Committee that shepherded the bill, resisted the change, wary of a return to institutionalizing people with mental illness instead of caring for them in their homes, ideally, with a team of specialized health and social workers.
• A person diagnosed with mental illness and substance use disorder needs inpatient care for doctors to stabilize them, argued Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), a gastroenterologist and top member of the two committees with power over the policy.
• Over the last decade, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has started allowing states to use federal dollars to pay for care in mental health hospitals for a limited time, as long as they obtain a waiver.
• California found that its waiver to provide medication-assisted treatment for people with substance use disorder in mental hospitals helped individuals “who need a relatively intensive level of care for short-term stabilization of acute needs,” said Ann Carroll, the California Department of Health Care Services’ spokesperson.

Click To Read Full Article