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FRIDAY, JANUARY 30, 2004

NATIONAL REPORT CRITICIZES MICHIGAN’S

MENTAL HEALTH SYSTEM

WASHINGTON, D.C. (January 30, 2004) – An assessment of health care in the 50 states, released here today, finds that Michigan is a laggard in the field of mental health care. The report particularly faults Michigan, once considered by many one of the best states for mental health services, for failing to build an adequate community-based system of mental health care. The article appears in the February 2004 issue of Governing magazine.

Michigan closed 11 of its state hospitals between 1991 and 1999, leaving just four today. The patients who left those hospitals were supposed to access mental health treatment and supports in the community. Instead, many have found those systems lacking both resources and organization. In Wayne County, home to a large portion of residents receiving public mental health services, the system is considered one of the worst in the state, plagued by high administrative costs and political infighting.

“A strong community-based system is crucial to individuals who are recovering from serious mental illness,” says Michele Mariani, co-author of the special issue of Governing. “There’s a long history in this country of state hospital closings overwhelming inadequate community systems. Michigan would have been well-served to learn from those experiences and develop more solid regional mental health services before closing so many hospital beds.”

Michigan is also one of just 11 states that have failed to pass mental health parity legislation, which would mandate that insurers provide equal coverage for physical and mental illness. Governing’s report notes that the problems facing Michigan’s mental health system have led to legislative hearings and the establishment of a special commission on mental health care by Governor Jennifer Granholm.

On the positive side, Michigan earns praise for pioneering the formation of a multi-state purchasing pool for prescription drugs, joining initially with Vermont. As the report notes, “the pool utilizes a uniform preferred-drug list in its negotiations with drug manufacturers” in order to save money for participating states.

Governing’s analysis of state-funded health care is part of the Government Performance Project, a six-year-old effort, funded by the Pew Charitable Trusts, to evaluate a wide range of state government management and policy functions. This year’s special report focuses on six critical health care problems facing states: long-term care, public health, mental health, prescription drugs, access to care for the uninsured, and care for children.

The Government Performance Project found and documented the inability of the 50 states’ health care system to deliver improvements in medicine fairly and consistently to many of their citizens. Health care in most states is not just inadequate, the study concluded--it’s deteriorating. “After exhaustive analysis and hundreds of interviews,” says Peter Harkness, Governing’s publisher and editor, “it became clear that there is a health care crisis in America. But it is in no way a medical crisis. It is a fiscal crisis.”

Governing is a policy and management magazine aimed at high-level state and local government officials. An online version of this report will be available at http://www.governing.com/gpp/2004/intro.htm as of January 29. Press releases for each of the 50 states can be found at http://www.governing.com/gpp/2004/press.htm.

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