Call Rep. Fred Upton at 202 225 3761 & urge him to pass HR2646

We need everyone to contact Representative Fred Upton, Chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee and urge him to bring a strong "Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act (HR2646)" to a vote now.

HR2646 is a bipartisan bill proposed by Representatives Tim Murphy, (R., PA) and Eddie Bernice Johnson (D., TX), that forces the mental health industry to stop shunning people who are the most seriously mentally ill. Because the bill focuses on helping the most seriously ill, rather than all others, some in the mental health industry are trying to prevent it from passing.

HR2646:

• Creates an Asst. Secretary for Mental Health to coordinate mental health policy and encourages the use of evidence-based practices that help the seriously ill, rather than politically correct and profitable practices that help all others.
•  Encourages states to use Assisted Outpatient Treatment as a more humane and inexpensive alternative to inpatient commitment and incarceration.
• Helps end federal financial discrimination against psychiatric beds so the most seriously ill who need hospitalization aren’t sent to jail instead.
• Allows parents who provide care, housing, case management for mentally ill children out of love, to get the same information from doctors paid providers receive if it’s needed to protect health, safety, and welfare.
• Stops federally funded P&A lawyers from suing against care for our loved ones

Here's why the Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act is important 

Rep. Upton is on our side, but those who get federal funds and don’t serve the seriously ill are putting intense pressure on him to not use federal funds for the seriously mentally ill and not to use federal funds for evidence based practices. They want the funds used to "improve behavioral wellness" rather than help the seriously ill. It's outrageous that federal funds are being used to lobby against better care for the seriously ill!

As chair of the Energy and Commerce committee, Rep. Upton can bring the HR2646 to a vote with the important provisions above intact. He needs to hear from you.

Call Representative Fred Upton at 202 225 3761 and urge him to pass a strong HR2646.  

MAKE THE CALL! SPREAD THIS TO FRIENDS, NAMI GROUPS, ANYONE WHO CARES ABOUT THE SERIOUSLY ILL. THANK YOU.

New Report: $4 to $8 billion of mental health funds lost to fraud, waste, and excess profits

Unbiased Information For Policymakers + Media

50 East 129 St., PH7 New York, NY 10035

office@mentalillnesspolicy.org mentalillnesspolicy.org

News Release

September 28, 2015

Contact: Lead Author, Dr. E. Fuller Torrey

torreyf@stanleyresearch.org 

301-571-2078

New report suggests that $4 to $8 billion in public mental health funds are being lost to fraud, waste, and excess profits. 

These funds are sufficient to provide significant psychiatric services to most of the estimated 216,000 individuals with serious mental illness who are homeless as well as the 350,000 who are in jail or prison. (Full report)

(New York. NY) Public mental illness services have markedly deteriorated over the past three decades. The “mayhem du jour” includes mentally ill individuals carrying out mass killings; overflowing jails and prisons; being kept in emergency rooms for days while awaiting a psychiatric bed; being killed by law enforcement officials; and taking up permanent residence on the nation’s sidewalks and other public spaces. It is widely assumed that the cause of the problem is a decrease in public funds for mental illness treatment programs, when in fact the funds available to state mental health agencies in constant dollars have increased modestly since 1982. So where does the money go?

A new report, “Fraud, Waste and Excess Profits: The Fate of Money Intended to Treat People with Serious Mental Illness”, suggests a partial answer. Between $4 and $8 billion, which is 10 to 20 percent of the $40 billion spent annually by state mental health agencies, is being lost to fraud, waste, and excess profits to for-profit managed care companies. For example:

1.         In 2014 we identified 18 media accounts of mental health Medicare and Medicaid fraud, totaling approximately $1 billion. A nurse in Iowa submitted more than 6,000 false claims; a social worker in North Carolina submitted claims for 64 hours of therapy in a single day; and a mental health center in Louisiana submitted $258 million in false Medicare claims for partial hospitalization.

2.         California voters in 2004 approved a special tax to generate new revenue for providing services for individuals with serious mental illness. The tax produces over $1 billion each year. However, some of the MHSA funds have been wasted by being diverted to activities such as yoga, line-dancing, therapeutic drumming, and community gardens.

3.         For profit managed care companies are commonly allowed to keep up to 20 percent of state contracts for administrative costs and profit. In Florida WellCare was given a contract to provide mental health care to the state’s Medicaid population. A WellCare vice-president was recorded as claiming that the company was keeping 50 percent of the contract. Three WellCare executives were subsequently convicted of fraud and sentenced to prison.

Such findings suggest that Richard Kusserow, the former Inspector General of the Department of Health and Human Services, was correct in 2014 when he claimed that “many healthcare fraud investigators believe mental healthcare givers, such as psychiatrists and psychologists, have the worst fraud record of all disciplines.”

The present report also makes several recommendations. The federal Health Care Fraud Prevention and Enforcement Action Team (HEAT Task Force) should be significantly expanded since it has been shown to pay for itself. State mental health agencies should exert active, assertive oversight over community programs. This oversight should include vigorous examination of Medicaid and Medicare claims; unannounced audits of community mental health programs looking for fraud and waste; and a prohibition on the use of for-profit managed care companies. Such corrective actions are unlikely to happen unless mental health advocacy groups and the public in general demand it.

In commenting on the report, lead author Dr. E. Fuller Torrey, Associate Director of the Stanley Medical Research Institute noted: “The core problem is not how much money is being spent, but rather how much money is being misspent. Until we mental health professionals clean up our act, just throwing more money at the problem is not going to solve it.” 

The other authors of the report are D.J. Jaffe, Executive Director of Mental Illness Policy Org.; Dr. Jeffrey L. Geller, Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Massachusetts Medical School; and Dr. Richard Lamb, Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine.

The complete report is available at http://www.mentalillnesspolicy.org/national-studies/wastereport.pdf

Join Dr. E. Fuller Torrey Teleconference October 6, 7PM EST.

SAVE THE DATE: October 6 at 7pm EST. 

DJ Jaffe, Executive Director of Mental Illness Policy Org is hosting a conference call Tuesday October 6 at 7PM EST with the amazing Dr. E. Fuller Torrey, author, Surviving Schizophrenia and scores of books on mental illness policy, mental illness science, and mental illness treatment. He directs the Stanley Medical Research Inst., and founded the Treatment Advocacy Center. Hear about his latest study, mental illness politics and more. Q&A at end. Invite your friends. Dial in (712) 775-7031 Access Code 715-149

Books by Dr. E. Fuller Torrey
Article about Dr. E. Fuller Torrey's search for schizophrenia cure
Dr. E. Fuller Torrey Testimony on Failure at SAMHSA
Dr. Fuller Torrey's CV