Mental Health Courts Can Struggle to Fulfill Decades-Old Promise

Advocates, attorneys, clinicians, and researchers say Mental Health-focused courts sound good but can struggle to live up to their promise. The diversion programs, they said, are often expensive and resource-intensive, and serve fewer than 1% of the more than 2 million people who have a serious mental illness and are booked into U.S. jails each year.

People can feel pressured to take plea deals and enter the courts, seeing the programs as the only route to get care or avoid prison time. The courts are selective, due in part to political pressures on elected judges and prosecutors. Participants must often meet strict requirements that critics say aren’t treatment-focused, such as regular hearings and drug screenings.

And there is a lack of conclusive evidence on whether the courts help participants long-term. Some legal experts, like Lea Johnston, a professor of law at the University of Florida, worry the programs distract from more meaningful investments in mental health resources. Jails and prisons are not the place for individuals with mental disorders, she said. “But I’m also not sure that mental health court is the solution.”

Insurance Companies are Forcing Psychiatrists Like Me to Stop Accepting Their Coverage

Psychiatrist Andrew Popper has had to tell prospective patients many times over his 15 years in solo private practice that he can’t take on new patients. He eventually realized he was spending more time dealing with insurance denials than he was seeing patients, limiting the number of people he could help. Writing in a STAT First Opinion, he compares filling out insurance forms to defusing a bomb: Both require extreme care and both are uncertain to succeed.  Then he stopped taking insurance. “I’ve had more time to see patients. I’ve seen more new patients in the past six months than I did in the previous three years,” he says. “While my practice revenues fell 10% in 2023, I am serving more patients in total.” But asking clinicians to see more patients for less money is not a sustainable path to improving access to mental health care.

Save the Date: The Ohio Council's Compliance & Quality Conference: March 5th & 6th

The Ohio Council of Behavioral Health & Family Services Providers is pleased to announce our first in-person compliance since 2018, which will be held at the Crowne Plaza Columbus North - Worthington Hotel in Columbus, Ohio on Tuesday, March 5^th and Wednesday, March 6^th.

The business of behavioral health is in constant transition, as rules, regulations, laws, certifications, and audit processes are constantly being updated.  Join us to hear the latest on topic such as:

• Anti-trust
• Payer audits, overpayments, and revalidation
• Labor and employment law updates
• Telehealth regulations.
• Medical & recreational cannabis policies & best practices.
• Documentation best practices
• Patient experience and outcomes measurement

This conference is tailored to meet the needs of Executive-Level Leadership, Compliance Officers, and Human Resources managers. Stay tuned for additional registration information, including the agenda, price of attendance and the hotel room block code!

In 2023, Opioid Settlement Funds Started Being Paid Out. Here's How It's Going

In 2023, state and local governments received about $1.5 billion in settlement funds from more than a dozen companies that manufactured, sold, or distributed prescription painkillers and were sued for their role in fueling the opioid crisis.

That money has gone from an emerging funding stream for which people had lofty but uncertain aspirations to a coveted pot of billions of dollars being invested in real time to address addiction.

Altogether, the companies are expected to pay more than $50 billion to state and local governments over nearly two decades.

Meanwhile, more than 100,000 Americans have died of drug overdoses each year in recent years, underscoring the urgent nature of the crisis.

KFF Health News has been tracking the funds all year and covering the windfall's mixed impact in communities across the country. Here are five things we've learned in 2023 and plan to keep an eye on next year:

1. The total amount of settlement money coming to state and local governments is a moving target;
2. Most states still aren't being transparent about how the money is used;
3. Money is being spent on treatment, overdose prevention, and controversially, on law enforcement;
4. The settlements require companies to change problematic business practices, but that's having unintended consequences; and
5. Many places haven't decided what to do with the money yet.

For more information about the OneOhio Recovery Foundation please visit this website