represent their communities on Health Care Planning Teams (HCPT) at the District and Area levels; It can be seen, therefore, that the British Community Health Councils provide their communities, on the one hand with a forum for discussion of local health care and health-related services concerns, and on the other hand with an institutionalized resource to assist them in presenting their needs and aspirations, as well as critique of services, to the managers and planners of the NHS. At a practical level, of course, the CHC provides the community with technical resources for monitoring services and needs. I shall be most happy to answer any questions raised and provide further information which may be required regarding this Testimony. I wish to place on record my thanks to the National Center for Health Services Research and the National Library of Medicine for providing me with the opportunity to study the contemporary American arrangements for health services planning. Julian J. Knox National Library of Medicine 8600 Rockville Pike Behtesda, Maryland 20014 February 1978 I wrote to you January 26 requesting opportunity, on behalf of the Some of our testimony on that legislation will have implications The Mental Health Association strongly supports the concept of integrated health planning with an identifiable mental health component. We therefore will generally support H.R. 10553 and express our appreciation for the introduction of this forward looking piece of legislation, in which for the first time this concept would be clearly articulated in law. For reasons which we will develop in our later testimony, we believe the amendments to P.L. 93-641 should include a requirement that the state authorized mental health planning be incorporated as an identifiable component within the Health Systems Plan and Annual Implementation Plan. We further believe that the state health plan approved by the State Health Co-ordinating Council should be required to include the state authorized mental health plan unless that plan and the planning process underlying it is not consistent with the provisions of P.L. 93-641. We are greatly encouraged that the concept of mental health representation has been recognized in H.R. 10553. We believe this concept should be strengthened by adding a requirement that a significant proportion of the providers and consumers at both regional and state levels, as well as professional staff at both levels, be mental health qualified. Because we believe that state authorized mental health planning should be the basis of identifiable mental health components of regional and state health plans, we would further recommend that amendments to P.L. 93-641 incorporating the state mental health planning process in the Federal health planning legislation should mandate that citizen participation at local, regional, and state levels in the mental health planning process be consistent with and compatible with the representation required of the governing bodies of HSA's and SHCCs. We will further testify that the Congress should incorporate in amendments to P.L. 93-641, or other relevant legislation, a clear statement of its intent that specific Federal funds be provided for state mental health authorities to develop and maintain on-going planning at regional and state levels. We will recommend that at least 80% of those funds be utilized for regional and local mental health planning purposes. Attached you will find a statement prepared by ciate it if the attached statement could be included The problem which our statement highlights health consumer movements and have knowledge of the They We thank you for your consideration of this issue. We hope that some change in the "Planning Act" can be made to encourage the participation of such individuals on HSA governing boards. The bill currently being considered in the Senate, S. 2410, does include a provision at Section 140 which would remedy the problem we have described above. We would hope that the House would pass amendments to the "Planning Act" which would also remedy this problem. Sincerely, Richard E. Vewille Richard E. Verville, Counsel Barney Sellers Barney Sellers National Health Council, Inc. REV: kh |