While the most discussed portion of Gov. Jay Inslee’s proposed budget promises to revolve around school funding, his approach to mental-health services in the state also is worthy of attention.
Most important, Inslee has used his budget proposal not simply to recommend funding for mental health, but to suggest the overhaul of a system that has been broken for some time. With education funding certain to dominate the discussion in Olympia during next year’s legislative session, lawmakers should also find time to tackle the pressing issue of how the state cares for some of its most vulnerable citizens.
In rolling out his budget proposal last week, Inslee said the plan would “modernize and fundamentally transform how we provide mental-health services to Washingtonians. It’s not just about adding funding to the current structure of our system. It is about structural change that will allow us to build a patient-centered system where we’re better able to provide people the right treatment in the right setting.”
Washington’s largest mental-health facility — Western State Hospital, near Tacoma — has been beset by problems relating to patient and staff safety and the level of patient care. That is part of a larger issue that has led to several court decisions decrying the state’s mental-health system.
Inslee believes some of the problems stem from the fact that, unlike most states, Washington houses patients who are not part of the criminal justice system in the state’s two large mental facilities. This moves civil-commitment patients away from families and other support systems during their treatment. His proposal calls for the construction of small, localized facilities in order to downsize the large state hospitals. “We will pursue a combination of state-run and private-run placement options,” Inslee said. “We’re going to build, intend to build, nine new 16-bed state-operated community behavioral health hospitals over the next six years.”
Clark County, in recent years, has provided a model for the rest of the state in establishing more localized mental-health care. During an interview with The Columbian’s Editorial Board, Inslee praised the county’s approach as an example the rest of the state should follow.
Inslee placed a price tag of $99.6 million on his plan to create 350 new beds over a span of six years. While any such proposal must be subject to scrutiny and while any such costs must be examined, the benefits are easy to see.
First of all, Washington’s mental-health system needs fixing. Western State Hospital has been in danger of losing federal funding out of an inability to meet basic standards of care, and the state’s lack of beds for patients has been noted by the courts. In addition, a plan that decentralizes care and allows for community centers has numerous merits. It makes sense for the state to avoid, whenever possible, sending a civil-commitment patient to one of the large state hospitals.
Meanwhile, Washington should join a growing national movement to recognize the benefits of preventive care when it comes to mental health — as we do for physical illnesses. Afflictions such as depression deliver heavy social and economic costs whether or not a patient ever requires hospitalization.
Last year, Inslee said: “We have urgent short-term needs, but we also need to take a long view on how to build a stronger mental-health system.” To that end, the governor has put forth a proposal deserving of discussion.
