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| 4/13/2007 10:45:00 AM | Email this article • Print this article | Help for mentally ill makes economic sense
By LISA BIRKMAN
Pct. 1 Commissioner
According to the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services, half of all Americans will experience some sort of mental disorder in their lifetime and one out of five will experience it in any given year.
The National Institute of Mental Health reports that mental illness is the second-leading cause of disability, and more common than cancer, diabetes or heart disease. Yet, less than one-third of adults and half of the children with diagnosable mental illness in the USA receive treatment in any given year, for a variety of reasons.
These are startling facts on a subject many people prefer not to discuss.
But, in 2003, Williamson County decided to try to find community-based solutions to this growing problem. The Commissioner's Court formed the Mental Health Task Force, of which I am currently a member, along with Commissioner Valerie Covey, Sheriff James Wilson and a variety of other elected officials, mental health providers from the private and public sectors, law enforcement officials, local hospitals, schools and more.
The main programs we have instituted at the county level are the Mobile Outreach Team and the Crisis Intervention Team .
MOT is a group of five mental health counselors who respond to the scene of those in crisis throughout the county. They are funded through a variety of grants and funds other than taxes.
Also, in October of 2005, CIT was created. This Sheriff's Office unit consists of specially trained officers with mental health certifications and they deal exclusively with mental health calls. CIT responds to mental health crises when a person is a danger to themselves or others.
These two teams work hand in hand on many cases. The goal is to appropriately respond to every person in crisis and by doing so, divert non-violent mental health patients from our county jail, state mental health hospitals, emergency rooms and so forth into more appropriate placements and to use of community resources, whenever possible.
Not only is this approach better for the patient, but it makes economic sense.
For example, a typical crisis intervention on scene costs approximately $100 with about another $300 for a follow up visit to a psychiatrist.
On the other hand, a typical mental health ER visit costs about $3,700, plus another $500 if an ambulance is called.
A night in jail usually costs about $80, not including medication costs.
A typical stay in a state mental health facility can be twelve days and cost approximately $5,400.
So, this collaboration has improved communication, reduced duplication and gaps in services, and helped make our local system more efficient and cost effective.
We have been keeping statistics to measure the success of these programs over the last year.
In 2006, CIT responded to 2,285 cases of which 570 were diverted to more appropriate services and only 398 required an emergency mental health commitment.
In 2005, mental health calls in which Emergency Medical Services responded numbered about 900, but we reduced those calls to less than 500 in 2006. We were also able to lower the number of non-violent mentally ill persons in the county jail.
When all of this was added up, we not only provided more appropriate care for the county's mentally ill, we also saved the county's taxpayers over $1.8 million dollars.
I am proud of our success and pledge to keep working on this important issue.
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