HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.C.R. NO.	275
TWENTY-FOURTH LEGISLATURE, 2008
STATE OF HAWAII

HOUSE CONCURRENT

RESOLUTION

urging the Department of Health to establish parity between private nonprofit mental health centers and mental health centers operating within the Department of Health's statewide system relating to qualifications for cost reimbursement for services provided, fee for service, and salaries and benefits.

     WHEREAS, the Department of Health operates mental health centers to serve mental health patients statewide; and

     WHEREAS, various private, nonprofit organizations also operate mental health clinics, including the Waianae Coast Community Mental Health Center, Inc., dba Hale Na‘au Pono, which operates a mental health clinic in Waianae on the island of Oahu; and

     WHEREAS, Hale Na‘au Pono provides culturally and socially sensitive, community-based, behavioral health services for children and adults that cover a wide range of mental health needs including substance abuse and therapeutic foster care; and

     WHEREAS, Hale Na‘au Pono originally operated as a part of the statewide system of mental health centers during the mid-1970s, but it eventually separated from the Department of Health's leeward district to serve Waianae as a separate catchment area as a demonstration model, and finally in 1987, it incorporated to form a community-owned and governed not-for-profit mental health center; and

     WHEREAS, it is the position of the Department of Health Adult Mental Health Division that in the field of social work, only a licensed clinical social worker may be reimbursed by the Division for therapy or eligibility determination services if provided by private mental health service providers outside of the Department of Health's statewide system; and

     WHEREAS, it is the Division's position that mental health case managers must be qualified by holding a bachelor's degree in selected fields related to the practice of mental health services, with a limited number of exceptions granted by the Division for high school-educated case managers, to provide services in private mental health service facilities outside of the Department of Health's statewide system; and

     WHEREAS, the Division uses non-clinical social workers and case managers without college degrees on a regular basis to work in state-operated mental health centers within the Division's statewide system; and

     WHEREAS, there appears to be a lack of parity between salary and benefits of employees under non-state operated mental health systems providing services to Division-qualified consumers under a fee-for-service as well as a cost-reimbursement system as compared to employees working within the Division-operated statewide system of mental health centers; and

     WHEREAS, the non-state operated mental health systems incur great expense investing in training and education and providing employees with experience in the field, only to find these employees lured away from their agencies by the state-operated system, creating a shortage of employees in the private provider sectors; now, therefore,

     BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-fourth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2008, the Senate concurring, that the Department of Health is urged to establish parity between private nonprofit mental health centers and mental health centers operating within the Department of Health's statewide system relating to qualifications for cost reimbursement for services provided, fee-for-service, and salaries and benefits; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Department of Health is requested to carry out a comparative study to examine costs, contracts, arrangements, national accreditations, and services provided by private nonprofit mental health centers and mental health centers operating within the Department of Health's statewide system to determine the cost effectiveness and quality of services provided by a community-based private nonprofit mental health center compared to that of state-operated centers; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Department of Health is requested to include the system of clubhouse services, outpatient services, community based case management services, and assertive community treatment services in the comparative study of services; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Department of Health is requested to submit a report of its findings and recommendations, including any necessary proposed legislation, to the Legislature no later than twenty days prior to the convening of the Regular Session of 2009; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Director of Health and President of the Waianae Coast Community Mental Health Center, Inc., dba Hale Na‘au Pono.

OFFERED BY:

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Report Title: 

Nonprofit Mental Health Centers; Parity; DOH Comparative Study