Georgia is starting “the decade of mental health reforms” Kevin Tanner, chairman of the state’s Behavioral Health Reform and Innovation Commission, said this week.
The high-level commission, formed in 2019, developed long-range recommendations to address the state’s abysmal mental health outcomes. The General Assembly adopted some of those recommendations during the 2022 legislative session.
The commission met Thursday to check in on the progress of the reforms and plan for the next legislative session.
“This is one of the best budget and policy years the agency has seen in many, many years,” said Caylee Noggle, commissioner of the state Department of Community Health (DCH), which administers Georgia Medicaid and the State Health Benefit Plan covering teachers and state employees.
Commission members identified mental health pay rates and workforce shortages, care coordination, and helping people with mental illness avoid the criminal justice system as key priorities for the next round of reforms.
Rep. Mary Margaret Oliver, D-Decatur, said she is concerned that Georgia’s relatively low payment rates for inpatient psychiatric treatment contribute to a shortage of treatment options for Georgians.
Some Georgia mental health placement beds are filled by people from other states, who are sent here because of Georgia’s low rates, Oliver said.
DCH recently raised the payment rates for some inpatient psychiatric treatment facilities.
“There’s still a big gap there,” Noggle acknowledged.
The new mental health services bill requires DCH to study and report on Georgia’s reimbursement rates by the end of this year.
Oliver said she would be closely watching the results of that rate study. She urged Noggle to use her role to ensure the rates are increased.
“It starts with you,” Oliver told Noggle. “It’s a pretty high priority in my mind.”
