Jul 9, 2015 3 min read

The chaotic patchwork of current government programs and federal laws make it impossible for those with psychosis, schizophrenia and serious mental illness to get meaningful care. Fifty years ago, we had half a million hospital beds for those with mental illness. Most are now gone, but patients still need care. I’m pushing mental-health care to the forefront of our national agenda to fix the broken system and deliver treatment before tragedy.

Here in Southwestern Pennsylvania, we’ve witnessed the consequences of deinstitutionalization without a plan to care for those in need. Institutions like Mayview State Hospital closed down with no meaningful community-based or alternative treatment available for those in need of treatment. Where did the patients go? Not into care. They have become chronic emergency-room cases, incarcerated or homeless.

Just recently, our community suffered a devastating blow when the City Mission caught fire, leaving more than 50 homeless men displaced. City Mission has served as a beacon of hope by providing critical resources to the homeless, many of whom have mental illness and would otherwise be living on the street. In fact, nearly a third of today’s homeless population has a serious mental illness.

I’ve authored the Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act to fix the chronic shortage of psychiatric hospital beds, clarify HIPAA laws so families are part of frontline care delivery team, and help patients get treatment well before their illness spirals into crisis. My bill eliminates wasteful and ineffective programs and directs money where it is needed most by restructuring the federal mental-health system so it focuses on serious mental illness rather than “behavioral wellness” and feel-good fads that yield no meaningful results yet cost taxpayers millions each year.

My plan has earned bipartisan support from lawmakers and top mental health organizations from across the country, including the National Alliance on Mental Illness, the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention and the Treatment Advocacy Center, because it breaks down federal barriers to care, reforms outdated programs, expands mental health parity, and invests in services for the most difficult-to-treat cases while driving evidence-based care.

My legislation also helps communities adopt assisted outpatient treatment programs, a model of community-based care for those who cycle through arrests, incarcerations, and repeated emergency room visits as a result of being outside a medical treatment plan.

This legislation marks a new dawn for mental health in America. We have a unique opportunity to fundamentally improve our mental health system that is desperately in need of an overhaul, and work toward a better integration of psychiatric and primary care. There have been tremendous advances in medicine in the last 10 years to treat schizophrenia and severe mental illnesses that have made a huge difference, but it is only valuable if patients have access to these treatments. Let’s no longer turn a blind eye and help families in mental health crisis.

Tim Murphy

Washington, D.C.

Murphy represents Pennsylvania’s 18th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives.