Arizona's Public Behavioral Health System: Critical Issues for Critical Times

Arizona's Public Behavioral Health System: Critical Issues for Critical Times prepared jointly by ASU’s Center for Applied Behavior Health Policy and Morrison Institute for Public Policy, notes that Arizona’s billion-dollar public behavioral health system, which serves 150,000 ill residents and their families, is inadequately staffed and struggling under budget cuts and the demands of a 28-year-old class-action law suit.

Among the findings of the report:

35% of Arizona adults with serious mental illness do not qualify for AHCCCS/Medicaid, primarily because they are working poor and uninsured, and thus are at risk for inadequate treatment
Funds for housing and food to support patients’ recovery are essential, yet are not provided to even patients covered by AHCCCS/Medicaid because they are not considered "medically necessary"
Budget pressures put Arizonans at risk through cuts to crisis services, which not only avert suicides and drug overdoses, but provide vital assistance to local hospitals and local law enforcement officials.
The report’s release comes just weeks after Governor Jan Brewer’s October 9th call for a major reorganization of the statewide system.