EDITORIAL: Don’t scrimp on mental health funding

About one in five adults has a mental health condition. Rates of depression among youth rose to 11 percent in 2014, and even those with severe depression have been left with insufficient treatment or none at all. And more than half of adults with a mental illness do not receive treatment, according to Mental Health America.

Against that disturbing backdrop, it’s incomprehensible that the New Jersey Department of Human Services has ignored pleas from nonprofit community mental health providers to amend reimbursement rates to enable them to adequately treat those in need. The desire to cut costs has taken precedence over a humane, common-sense approach to helping some of the state’s most vulnerable citizens.

At the end of this month, a new fee-for-service funding formula will take effect that will increase reimbursements for some services, including addiction services. But it will not adequately reimburse community-based mental health organizations, which provide the majority of care to those with mental health issues. The new funding formula limits what services are deemed billable, making it impossible for nonprofit providers to cover costs without slashing services. Providers argue the reimbursement rates are low to begin with, and the new arrangement won’t be enough to cover overhead costs, including salaries for psychiatrists.

Bottom line: Many more people who need mental health services, including visits required for medication renewals, will go without. Lacking the care they need, they likely will end up in hospital emergency rooms, homeless on the streets or in jails.

Concerned about the impact of the inadequate reimbursements, bills dubbed the Community Mental Health Safety Net Act (S-3121, A-427) have been introduced in both chambers of the Legislature that would provide mental health treatment providers with a $90 million cushion in the event it is demonstrated that the reimbursements are indeed insufficient to provide a satisfactory level of care. Unfortunately, neither Assembly Speaker Vincent Prieto nor Senate President Stephen Sweeney has shown any inclination to act on the bill before the Legislature breaks for its long summer hiatus.

Some cuts to government spending make sense. This one makes none at all. Too many of those in need of mental health services have been badly served, or not served at all. Most private psychiatrists won’t accept Medicaid patients because of low reimbursement rates and other reasons.

Those with mental health issues, and family and friends affected by them, deserve a far better shake than society has historically given them. Reducing reimbursement rates is just another slap in the face. More indignities may be ahead under the Trump administration. New Jersey shouldn’t add to them.

Victoria Sidrow, CEO of Vantage Health System in Englewood, said passage of the pending mental health safety net bills is crucial to minimizing disruptions to care.

“We’ve been trying to figure out — what went wrong?” Sidrow said. “How did they get this so wrong? What is the reasoning behind it? We don’t know.”

Whatever the reasoning is, it’s faulty. The Legislature should pass the bill before adjourning for the summer and Gov. Chris Christie should sign it.