Mental health solutions

With the staggering budget challenges Ohio faces, more funding for the state's public mental-health system probably is not in the cards. But a new study of the dismal condition of that system offers better ways to use the tax dollars that are available.

Federal stimulus funding has helped offset severe cuts in state funding for mental-health treatment. But that money is running out, and further service reductions seem inevitable, given projections of a huge shortfall in the next state budget.

The new report by the Center for Community Solutions, a Cleveland-based research group, argues that the state can treat thousands of mentally ill Ohioans more effectively for less money — if it is prepared to change some long-standing policies. Doing nothing, says Susan Ackerman, a fiscal analyst and co-author of the study, “simply results in bigger, more costly problems tomorrow.”

Her group, working with the Mental Health Advocacy Coalition, notes that many people with mental-health disorders do not have access to treatment in community settings. They often end up on the streets, or in hospital emergency rooms, nursing homes, jails, or other places that are unequipped to deal with their needs. The problem is huge and getting worse, the study says.

A recent poll found that two out of three Ohioans have a friend or family member with an addiction and/or mental illness. Delivering more effective, less expensive care with better outcomes has a social as well as an economic dimension.

The report proposes ways to meet growing demands for help by increasing access to affordable treatment. Its specific recommendations include integrating behavioral and physical health care, providing adequate funding for community-based mental health services that are more economical than institutional care, and reducing hospital readmissions by creating a continuum of care that enables patients to make the transition to appropriate treatment.

The goal is to improve support for as many as 2.8 million Ohioans who have a diagnosable mental illness. The study offers a smart, fiscally sound approach that Gov. John Kasich and state lawmakers would be wise to give full consideration.