It Doesn't Add Up

+ The need for behavioral youth services is high.	Millions of children have serious emotional disturbances. Between 5% and 9% of children and adolescents experience serious mental or emotional disturbances that substantially interfere with or limit their ability to function in their family, school, and community. Substance use disorders often co-occur with other psychiatric disorders. An estimated 3% of adolescents were dependent on some sort of drug in a 12-month period.
+ Our knowledge of how to deliver effective treatment is high.	The introduction of the "system of care philosophy" has led to a significant change in the scope and nature of children's mental health services in the last two decades. A wide variety of services are now available to children. NAPHS members provide youth services along a continuum of care, based on a continuum of need. Over a period of years, this continuum has broadened from the traditional inpatient hospital to include a variety of less intensive and restrictive services consonant with the evolving state of the art.
- Funding for youth services is less than adequate.	About 7.1% of total mental health expenditures in 1990 were for child and adolescent mental health services. Yet young people represented 28% of the population.
- Coordination of care is fragmented.	Many children and youth simply "fall between the cracks" of the major systems involved in delivering care, which include education, child welfare, and juvenile justice, and mental health and substance abuse authorities. One study suggests only 11% of children at risk receive services in a mental health setting.
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so... Lets Change the Formula!

To serve the best interests of our nation's children, we need:

> Expanded coverage.	Provide access to care through non-discriminatory coverage of behavioral health disorders. Enroll all eligible children in the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP). Enhance state Medicaid programs to meet the needs of youngsters with behavioral health problems.
> Improved coordination of care.	Work to overcome fragmented systems of care. Fight inflexible funding streams.
> Fair funding.	Value children. Invest in their future by providing adequate payment for needed services today.

 

next> Recommendations >>

 

Make Behavioral Health for Youth

a

Priority

For more information,
see Enhancing Youth Services by the Lewin Group
for the National Association of Psychiatric Health Systems
202/393-6700

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