NC Plans Changes in Handling of Mental Care

Thursday, March 27, 2008
N.C. plans changes in handling of mental care

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
RALEIGH
The head of the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services has announced several changes in mental-health treatment, some of which would reverse a
2001 reform plan that let companies, not the government, provide the treatment.
The health and human-services secretary, Dempsey Benton, said yesterday that he plans to ensure basic psychiatric care in North Carolina and buy space for the mentally ill in community hospitals, the Raleigh News & Observer reported.
Benton said that all institutional deaths will be reported to a medical examiner. Under the new policy, hospitals must report all deaths by telephone to a medical examiner, Benton told a legislative committee on mental health. The medical examiner will decide whether an autopsy will be performed.
The DHHS said that officials changed the policy in order to increase openness and oversight.
"This is only one step in a comprehensive re-examination of our procedures covering the death of anyone in the care of our facilities," said James Osberg, the chief for state-operated facilities for DHHS.