Our system is broken in many ways. But again, there are many narrow fixes with broad positive implications which start the process of improvement. This is one of those narrow fixes. The 55-bed cap is a monumental failure – it should be eliminated.
Read More »Prison health care case shaping up for years of litigation
Arizona saw seven governors come and go in the time it took Arnold v. Sarn to resolve, and another case that addresses a forgotten population – prisoners and their health care – began.
Read More »After 33 years, class-action suit seeking care for the seriously mental ill comes to a successful end
In 1980, local mental health experts came together to draft what became known as Senate Bill 1057, a proposed statute intended to create a responsive and accessible community-based system for persons with serious mental illness.
Read More »Experts say more money for mental health may not prevent mass killings 
After mass shootings at each of those places came the questions of what role mental illness played and what reforms can be made to mental-health policy to prevent such shootings in the future.
Read More »Brewer pushes for change in mental health services 
Gov. Jan Brewer on Oct. 20 proposed a policy shift that would steer the mental health care of thousands of Arizona residents to the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System and away from state-contracted private care managers. The recommendation came ...
Read More »‘Arnold v. Sarn’: Helping or hurting? 
The lawsuit that led to the creation of the modern behavioral health care system in Maricopa County has created what many experts say is an artificial set of standards that ignores the real needs of patients. But confusion and disagreement over ways to improve the system have delayed the kind of meaningful reform that almost everyone in the health care community recognizes as necessary.
Read More »Mental health care: 30 years of broken promises 
Magellan Health Services has adopted a slogan since taking over Maricopa County's behavioral health care system two years ago: "Getting Better All the Time." The reforms promised by the Maryland-based company in the months before taking control of the system were put on hold while the company tried to rebound from the loss of medical records, a critical audit by the court and a series of well-publicized murders committed by untreated patients.
Read More »Gov’s Office, Health Department at odds over audit 
The Governor's Office and the Arizona Department of Health Services were pitted against each other during a hearing on the fractured condition of the county's mental health care system.
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