MHANJ Policy on Redirection II Bridge Fund and the Fiscal Year 2003 Budget

Problem

Decisions for the Fiscal Year 2003 budget are being made now! Given the fiscal crisis, the Mental Health Association in New Jersey is concerned that the Redirection II Bridge Fund will not be carried forward as part of the Fiscal Year 2003 budget. The withdrawal of the funds designated for the Redirection II Bridge Fund would seriously jeopardize the implementation of the initiative by compromising the capacity to support and develop community mental health services during the second year of the phase-in period.

Background

The Department of Human Services’ Finalized Plan, Redirection II is intended to make broad, system-wide improvements to the state’s system of mental health services by building a smaller, state-of-the-art, replacement hospital on the grounds of Greystone Park Psychiatric Hospital; decrease the population in the four state adult regional psychiatric hospitals; and increase and strengthen the statewide network of community services for people with mental illness. This plan would improve treatment to all people served by the public mental health system, improve treatment to patients requiring hospital care, and would not call for staff layoffs or privatization at any hospitals.

The Redirection II “bridge funds” were to be utilized during the 2 to 3 year phase-in period for expansion of community services to create placement options and avert the unnecessary hospitalizations of a significant number of consumers who, with such services, would be enabled to attain an improved quality of life and remain within their communities. Services to be expanded included group homes and supervised apartments, PACT, Medication-related services, crisis/respite services, services for people with mental illness who have drug or alcohol problems, ICMS, and supportive housing and rental subsidies.

Impact

• Compromise New Jersey’s ability to comply with the U.S. Supreme Court in Olmstead v. LC by removing available resources;

• Cause us to continue to pay more for treating people in institutions rather than in the community. (In one recent study by the American Journal of Psychiatry, total treatment costs in the community, including the cost of housing, was $60,000 per person per year compared to $130,000 for institutional care);

• Keep the 388 people with mental illness institutionalized who have been designated for discharge; and

• Prevent design and implementation of community services that could help people remain in the community.

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