Governor Asks for Mental Health Funding
By: Alan Van Zandt
Updated: February 5, 2013
(ST. JOSEPH, Mo.) Missouri Governor Jay Nixon is asking for federal funding to improve Missouri's mental health care system and ease overcrowding of hospital emergency rooms.
$10 million would go toward the Emergency Room Diversion Project.
The Pilot program would create a new outpatient support system for mental health patients, giving them another option at receiving health care services instead of clogging up an already taxed ER system.
Statistics show ER visits by mentally ill patients are at record numbers. Often it takes too long for patients to see a mental health professional because of large case loads and delays.
"When they leave the hospital they don't have two months of medication one month of medication so they don't even have a means of getting ongoing medication unless they can see someone, says
The project will be run by the department of mental health. The plan is to try the project at several hospitals in Missouri,
$10 million would go toward the Emergency Room Diversion Project.
The Pilot program would create a new outpatient support system for mental health patients, giving them another option at receiving health care services instead of clogging up an already taxed ER system.
Statistics show ER visits by mentally ill patients are at record numbers. Often it takes too long for patients to see a mental health professional because of large case loads and delays.
"When they leave the hospital they don't have two months of medication one month of medication so they don't even have a means of getting ongoing medication unless they can see someone, says
The project will be run by the department of mental health. The plan is to try the project at several hospitals in Missouri,
