The 2007 Joint Chairmen’s Report directed the Maryland Health Care Commission to develop a plan to guide the future mental health service continuum needed in Maryland. The Report states that the plan shall include a statewide mental health needs assessment of the demand for:
- Inpatient hospital psychiatric services (in State-run psychiatric, private psychiatric and acute general hospitals); and
- Community-based services and programs needed to prevent or divert patients from requiring inpatient mental health services, including services provided in hospital emergency departments
To guide the development of the plan, the Commission is required to convene a Task Force that includes representatives from the following organizations:
- Mental Hygiene Administration;
- Health Services Cost Review Commission;
- Maryland Insurance Administration;
- Private Psychiatric Hospitals;
- Acute Care Hospitals with and without Inpatient Psychiatric Units;
- Maryland Psychiatric Society;
- Mental Health Association;
- American College of Emergency Physicians-Maryland Chapter;
- Commercial Insurers;
- On Our Own of Maryland, Inc.;
- National Alliance of Mental Illness;
- Community Behavioral Health Association of Maryland;
- Maryland Association of Core Service Agencies;
- Maryland Disability Law Center; and
- Any other representative the Secretary considers necessary to carry out the purpose of the Task Force.
The Report also states that the Task Force shall, to the extent feasible and desirable, coordinate with the work of the Transformation Grant project in the Mental Hygiene Administration. To the maximum extent possible, expenditures incurred in the development of the Task Force’s plan shall be funded by the federal Transformation Grant.
Findings and recommendations are due to the General Assembly by December 1, 2008.
Task Force
Task Force Meeting Materials and Presentations
