Murphy outlines mental health reforms
WAYNESBURG – Tim Murphy, a Republican congressman from Upper St. Clair who also is a clinical psychologist, didn’t hold back his passion Wednesday when he spoke to a room filled with Waynesburg University students, faculty and staff on his legislation designed to better treat mentally ill people who may commit violence with firearms.
Murphy, who is chairman of the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, authored House Bill 3717 – the Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act, and told those gathered in Alumni Hall the legislation came about following a yearlong investigation of looking into the tragedies that “shocked the nation,” most notably the shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School and the shooting of his colleague, Congresswoman Gabby Giffords in Tucson, Ariz.
“Lots of things happened with guns, for good and for evil, and if we focus all of our attention on what is in people’s hands and ignore what is in their minds and what is in their hearts we will have missed an important time in American history,” he said.
Resulting from that investigation was a series of hearings where Murphy heard “from many people, parents, professionals and policymakers.”
What was learned, Murphy said, was there are 9.6 million Americans with mental illness and 3.6 million go without treatment. He also said treatment for severe mental illness “cuts the risk of violence by 15 fold.”
He said the federal government’s approach to mental health has been a chaotic patchwork of antiquated programs and ineffective policies across numerous agencies. “Sadly, patients end up in the criminal justice system or on the streets because services are not available,” he said.
Murphy said his bill fixes the nation’s broken mental health system by focusing programs and resources on psychiatric care for patients and families most in need of services.
Some of the legislation’s highlights include:
• Physicians are often unwilling to share or receive information with loved ones about an individual who has a serious mental illness and is experiencing a psychotic break because of complicated federal rules on communicating with immediate family members and caregivers. This scenario is especially problematic for parents of young adults with mental illness because psychosis begins to manifest between ages 14 and 25. The bill would clarify the Health Information Portability and Accountability Act privacy rule and the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act so physicians and mental health professionals can provide crucial information to parents and caregivers about a loved one who is in an acute mental health crisis to protect their health, safety and well-being.
• There is a severe lack of inpatient and outpatient treatment options. Seventy years ago, the country had nearly 600,000 inpatient psychiatric beds for 150 million people. Today, there are fewer than 40,000 beds for 317 million people. Murphy explained unlike private health insurance or Medicare, Medicaid will not reimburse for inpatient medical care at a psychiatric facility with more than 16 beds. This is known as the Institutions for Mental Disease exclusion. “The bill increases access to inpatient psychiatric care for the most critically ill patients by making a narrowly tailored exception to the IMD,” he said.
• Murphy said 50 percent of persons with mental illness are first afflicted by age 14 (75 percent by age 25). The delay between a first episode of psychosis and the onset of treatment averages 110 weeks. Early diagnosis and medical intervention improves outcomes dramatically, but there is only one child psychiatrist for every 7,000 children with a mental illness or behavioral disorder.
•Access to physician-prescribed medication is vital for vulnerable individuals in avoid acute mental health crisis, Murphy said. Current policies that permit only “one drug” per therapeutic class policy ignore the clinical needs of individuals with mental illness who rely on vital, non-interchangeable prescription drug therapies. “The legislation protects certain classes of drugs commonly used to treat mental illness so physicians have prescribe the right medication for those on Medicare and Medicaid similar to the protected classes for persons with epilepsy and cancer.”
•Despite increased medical and scientific research into the nature and source of serious mental illness, a mental illness stigma persists. “The Department of Education, working with mental health stakeholders, will undertake a national campaign aimed at reducing the stigma of severe mental illness in schools,” he said.
Murphy said he is hopeful The Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis bill could come up for a vote in Congress in May, but he did not sound nearly as confident when it would go to the Senate for approval.