Page images
PDF
EPUB

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
Scholar-in-Residence

National Library of Medicine
National Institutes of Health

8600 Rockville Pike

Behtesda, Maryland

20014

February 1978

[blocks in formation]

I wrote to you January 26 requesting opportunity, on behalf of the
Mental Health Association, to present testimony of H.R. 10553.

Some of our testimony on that legislation will have implications
for H.R. 10460. While we are not testifying on H.R. 10460, I did want
to state for the record and in anticipation of our subsequent testimony
that we will be recommending changes in certain of the sections of
P.L. 93-641 under consideration in H.R. 10460.

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.

[blocks in formation]

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.

[merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small]
[blocks in formation]

Attached you will find a statement prepared by
the National Health Council, Inc. and the American
Diabetes Association dealing with the Health Plan-
ning and Resources Development Act which is now under
consideration in your Subcommittee. We would appre-

ciate it if the attached statement could be included
in the hearing record regarding the "Planning Act".

The problem which our statement highlights
involves the definition of "indirect provider" in
Section 1531 (3) (B) and the effect which this defini-
tion has on membership in the governing body of the
Health Systems Agencies ("HSA"). An indirect pro-
vider is defined presently as one holding a fiduciary
position with an organization engaged in any way and
in any degree with the provision of health care,
health research or instruction. The result of this
definition is that lay people, who are not otherwise
engaged in the delivery of health care, who serve as
volunteer members of the boards of directors of
nonprofit health organizations such as the American
Diabetes Association, are denied participation as con-
sumers in the governing body of an HSA. However, these
same individuals are perceived as consumers and not
as representatives of providers in their locality and
as a result cannot obtain provider positions on HSA
boards. In fact, these individuals are perhaps the
best example of consumers because they are active in

health consumer movements and have knowledge of the
health care system. They are not, however, practising
in the field of health care or receiving financial re-
muneration for their participation on these boards of
voluntary health organizations and these voluntary
health organizations are not primarily engaged in
health care delivery, research or instruction.
are clearly not organizations which form, in any way, a
major part of a local health care system.

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
American Diabetes Association

Barney Sellers

Barney Sellers

National Health Council, Inc.

REV: kh
Enclosure

« PreviousContinue »