Signs EO to Better Coordinate Mental Healthcare
Governor Rick Scott recently signed Executive Order 15-175 to better coordinate and enhance mental health services in Florida. This Executive Order is an addendum to Executive Order 15-134 that Governor Scott signed in July which created a partnership between the Department of Corrections (DOC), Department of Children and Families (DCF) and the Department of Juvenile Justice (DJJ) to implement best management practices to improve state funded mental health services in Florida. This addendum will add the Department of Health (DOH) and the Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA) to this partnership because both agencies play a critical role in the delivery of mental health care services in Florida. July’s Executive Order created a pilot program in Broward County which is allowing the state to do a countywide inventory of all programs available across state agencies that address mental health needs. Today’s Executive Order will expand the pilot to Alachua and Pinellas counties.
Governor Scott said, “The way mental healthcare is state funded in Florida today is too fragmented and we have to get better at serving those struggling with mental illness. When you look at our state budget, mental healthcare funding comes from multiple state agencies, local organizations and non-governmental entities, including $1 billion through DCF alone. All of these entities likely provide great services, but we have to better coordinate these organizations to ensure our entire taxpayer funded system is working together to help these patients get the care they need in their own communities, instead of institutions.
“The pilot programs in these three counties will also help us implement the first ever system for tracking care across agencies which will give practitioners the information needed to treat patients with a history of their diagnosis and needs. For the first time in our state, we are trying to look at mental illness on the front end and ensure we find the best ways to support individuals with mental health needs in their communities before they are committed to the custody or supervision of the state.”
Secretary Mike Carroll said, “We have to constantly improve our current system so it can get better. Supporting those with mental health needs doesn’t stop at DCF. Many state agencies, local law enforcement, courts and local governments all provide care and we must better coordinate these agencies to address fragmentation in the current system. We know that state funding alone will not produce better outcomes for those with mental illness. We have to work together if we are going to better serve Floridians and allow more individuals with mental illness to be served in their own communities. I appreciate Governor Scott directing me to lead our state’s social service agencies to conduct a comprehensive review so we can develop a statewide model to coordinate mental health care services in Florida.”
Executive Order 15-175 reforms Florida’s mental health care system by:
- Directing DCF Secretary Mike Carroll to lead a comprehensive review of local, state, and federally funded behavioral health services in Broward, Alachua and Pinellas Counties for the purpose of developing a statewide model for a coordinated system of services and a streamlined budgeting process. This review will study the feasibility of establishing a single client identifier system for recipients of behavioral health treatment services within these three counties.
- Directing DCF to conduct an audit of the state’s mental health treatment facilities to examine patient care, safety and security, technology, productivity, staffing levels and functions, institutional organization and training.
- Based on the findings of this review, the Governor directs DCF to provide recommendations on the development of a statewide model to meet the mental healthcare needs of patients through an integrated system of coordinated care.
Click HERE to view Executive Order 15-175.
Click HERE to view Executive Order 15-134.