Rep Tim Murphy (R. PA) is a former child psychologist, and head of the Mental "Health" Caucus. In spite of that, he totally gets serious mental "illness" in adults and what the important versus tangential issues are. He is as good as a Wellstone or a Domenici, and better than a Kennedy (who tended to focus on mental 'health' versus mental 'illness')
Rep. Tim Murphy has held extensive hearings where he listened to others focused on the most seriously ill including Dr. E. Fuller Torrey, Sally Satel, Joe Bruce , Ed Kelly. He also received extensive input from consumers around the country who contacted him. He announced the results of his hearings today and the legislation he intends proposing. It includes preserving hospitals, AOT (a/k/a Kendra's Law), revising HIPPA Handcuffs ( so families can get the info they need to help mentally ill loved ones), reigning in SAMHSA's anti-treatment activities , increasing police training, increasing NIMH budget for serious mental illness, and other key issues. I am very excited.
I am no Washington Insider, so I have no knowledge if it will fly or not. But at least someone is focused on right issues, not just PC tangential ones. Please support these efforts. He is totally on the right track. His press release and link to the floor speech follows: (Read more)
Rep. Murphy Outlines Mental Health Reform Agenda
For Immediate Release: Thursday, September 19, 2013
(Washington, DC) – Rep. Tim Murphy (PA-18) outlined a legislative framework for reforming federal mental health spending, treatment, and research in a speech this morning on the floor of the House of Representatives. Murphy’s proposal will be the result of an effort started in January by his Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations to identify problems in the nation’s mental health system.
“What America has done in dealing with people with mental illness is so far short of what we should be doing, it’s not surprising we are still failing the system,” he said. “America has replaced its psychiatric hospitals with prisons and bridges for the homeless.”
Murphy’s legislative initiatives, to be introduced in the coming weeks, will address the gaps in care for adults and children with serious mental illness (SMI) like schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and major depression.
Murphy explained the dire lack of inpatient treatment options for the severely mentally ill. The number of psychiatric beds has fallen from 500,000 in 1955 to just 40,000 today. Approximately two million of the 11 million American adults with a serious mental illness are not receiving treatment. Many of these untreated individuals end up on the streets and are at greater risk of committing a violent act. Approximately 1,000 homicides each year are perpetrated by a person with a mental illness.
Murphy’s bill would aim to address this care gap, collect data on violence and mental illness, and train law enforcement to make sure first-responders are effectively trained to help in a mental health emergency.
The bill will also address challenges in providing coordinated care for the severely mentally ill at community mental health centers. For example, Medicaid does not allow for same-day billing of a visit related to both mental illness and a physical ailment. This has exacerbated the fragmentary treatment of persons with SMI, who have a shorter life expectancy because of untreated co-morbidities like diabetes and obesity.
The legislation will include improvements in mental health treatment for young adults. As Murphy explained, signs of mental illness first appear in a person between the ages of 14 and 25. However, there is a critical shortage of child psychiatrists. The Murphy legislation will encourage pediatricians to undergo additional training in mental healthcare. The bill would also address concerns that the Health Information Privacy Act (HIPAA), and Family Education Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) frustrate the efforts of physicians to share critical information about a young adult’s mental state with parents.
Murphy’s legislation would also seek to reform wasteful spending identified by his committee at the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). As revealed at an April hearing, SAMHSA has funded conferences to actively encourage the mentally ill to stop taking medication. The agency has also awarded grants to groups that fight Assisted Outpatient Treatment (AOT). The state of New York has enacted an AOT reform called Kendra’s Law, which has significantly improved quality of life, increased medication adherence, and reduced recidivism and hospitalization for those with serious mental illness.
Murphy also called for additional research at the National Institute for Mental Health, and changes at the Department of Veterans Affairs to ensure returning soldiers with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) have access to effective and timely care.“We need to get serious on research for those with mental illness. NIMH [National Institute of Mental Health] has a little over $1 billion in money they can spend on research and little is spent on those with serious mental illness.”You can watch Rep. Murphy’s entire speech here.
