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Wednesday, December 11, 2013

Feds allocate $50 million, half of it rural, to expand mental-health programs; similar plan in Virginia follows high-profile incident

Vice President Joe Biden on Tuesday announced $100 million in federal funds will be used to expand community-based mental-health services and treatment centers, with half the money going to rural clinics, Scott Wilson reports for The Washington Post. Biden, a strong supporter of gun control, made the announcement less than a week before the one-year anniversary of the school shootings in Newtown, Conn. that left 26 people dead, including 20 children. The shooter, who killed himself, was suspected to have had mental problems.

At the same time Biden made his announcement, Virginia Republican Gov. Bob McDonnell presented a two-year budget that includes $38.3 million in "reforms and funding boosts for mental health and substance-abuse disorder programs," Olympia Meola reports for the Richmond Times-Dispatch. Last month, state Sen. Creigh Deeds, who lost the 2009 election to McDonnell, survived being stabbed by his son, who then killed himself. The day before the attack the son "underwent a psychiatric evaluation but was not admitted to a hospital, because no bed was available." Part of McDonnell's proposal allows "magistrates to grant a two-hour extension to an emergency custody order – currently a max of six hours -- if needed to find bed space. He would also extend temporary detention orders to 72 hours, and expand crisis intervention team assessment centers." (Read more)

Biden's announcement includes "$50 million in new funding for community health centers looking to expand treatment for people diagnosed with mental health and addiction problems," with the money coming through the Affordable Care Act, Wilson writes. The U.S. Department of Agriculture "will also make $50 million in loans available to rural clinics looking to expand facilities, a way of alleviating a shortage of mental health care outside urban areas." (Read more)

A news release from the USDA states: "The funding will be used for the construction, expansion, or equipping of rural mental health facilities and will be provided through the Community Facilities direct loan program... This year, USDA invested more than $649 million in 130 rural health care facilities – serving nearly 3.2 million rural residents. These investments included critical access hospitals, rural health clinics, psychiatric hospitals, mental health care facilities, group homes for people with disabilities, assisted living facilities, nursing homes, and vocation and medical rehabilitation facilities. USDA is also investing in innovative healthcare technologies such as telemedicine, to further expand access to health care services throughout rural America." (Read more) (NBC News clip)

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