By Dave Ranney, KHI News Service, March 10, 2011
TOPEKA — Few states have cut their mental-health budgets more than Kansas, according to a survey by the National Alliance on Mental Illness.
The group released its 50-state report on Wednesday.
"I don’t like saying this, but Kansas has gone from a state that – because of the Menninger legacy - was once seen as a leader in the progressive treatment of mental illness to a state in which the safety net is pretty much gone," said NAMI Executive Director Mike Fitzpatrick.
For decades, the Menninger clinic and hospital in Topeka were internationally known for their care and treatment of mentally ill children and adults.
Menninger moved to Houston in 2000.
"These are really dangerous times," Fitzpatrick said, noting that in last two and half years states have cut more than $1.8 billion from their mental health budgets.
In Kansas, state spending on mental health services – in both community and state-hospital settings – fell by 16 percent between 2009 and 2011, according to the report.
Only six states and the District of Columbia have experienced deeper percentage cuts:
Kansas and California were tied at 16 percent.
"What this report shows, I think, is that a lot of states are having problems," said Rick Cagan, executive director of NAMI-Kansas. "It also shows that the system here in Kansas is under a lot of stress."
The NAMI survey reported that nine of the 27 community mental health centers in Kansas are "…experiencing deficits and are in jeopardy of being closed."
In recent years, lawmakers have cut $20.2 million from a $31 million grant program that community mental health centers used to cover the costs of caring for the uninsured.
Earlier this year, Gov. Sam Brownback proposed eliminating the grant program and wiping out a $5 million fund – called Family Centered System of Care – that the centers use to help uninsured families care for mentally ill children.
Since then, the Senate Ways and Means Committee has agreed to recommend restoring about two-thirds of the governor’s proposed cut. The House Social Services Budget Committee agreed to restore almost half the funding.
"We’re still way short of where we need to be," said Mike Hammond with the Association of Community Mental Health Centers of Kansas.
Hammond said the cuts end up costing the state more in the long run.
"What we’re trying to get them (policymakers) to see is that the money they’re not spending today is going to cost them a lot more down the road when the people who can’t get in to see somebody end up in the emergency room or in jail or homeless."
Last year, more than 4,200 adults were admitted to the three state-run hospitals for the mentally ill in Kansas: Osawatomie State Hospital, Larned State Hospital, and Rainbow Mental Health Facility, Kansas City.
The hospitals are often full or over capacity.
Kansas Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services last month announced plans to close 14 of the 50 beds at Rainbow Mental Health after federal officials cited the hospital for being understaffed.
Legislators have not directed SRS to keep the beds open.
Mental health advocates oppose closing the beds.
"What this means, really, is we’ve got a system that has more and more people coming into it and fewer and fewer places for them to go," Hammond said.