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FRIDAY, JANUARY 30, 2004

NATIONAL REPORT CRITICIZES SOUTH CAROLINA

FOR LACK OF ACCESS TO MENTAL HEALTH CARE

WASHINGTON, D.C. (January 30, 2004) – An assessment of health care in the 50 states, released here today, finds that South Carolina lags behind many other states in mental health care. The report faults South Carolina for a backup of patients awaiting space in mental health treatment centers last year. It appears in the February 2004 issue of Governing magazine.

In 2003, due to insufficient staff and shortages of beds in state facilities, 70 mentally ill people were forced to wait for court-ordered mental health treatment in jails. A state Supreme Court justice ultimately ordered the state to find space for the dozens of men and women languishing in cells. Part of South Carolina’s problem, Governing’s report notes, is increasingly common in the states: The community system can’t sufficiently care for its caseload, and that leads to people falling into a mental health crisis that requires emergency care. But there aren’t enough acute care beds in the state for those people, either.

“Lack of access to inpatient mental health treatment is a growing problem in the states,” says Michele Mariani, co-author of the special issue of Governing. “Increasingly, jails are becoming holding places for people with mental illness, who need specialized treatment. It came to a head last year in South Carolina, and unfortunately it’s a scenario that may be repeated around the country if steps aren’t taken to provide proper treatment.” To the South Carolina’s credit, it has awarded $1.7 million to 10 community mental health centers to bolster community services and cut waiting lists for treatment.

Also on the positive side, the report’s authors praise the state for its impressive strides in shifting its long-term care population from nursing homes to community- and home-based care. “We heard from South Carolina officials that they think this is a cost effective measure, as well as one which is good for the well being of people who need long-term care,” says co-author Katherine Barrett. “And that certainly makes sense. South Carolina is home to a particularly large percentage of retirees.”

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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