EXECUTIVE AND LEGISLATIVE NOMINATIONS COMMITTEE;

CURRENT ISSUES

1. A recent report by a presidential commission called the nation’s mental health system “an inefficient maze of private, federal, state, and local government programs with scattered responsibility that frustrates both people with mental illness and providers. ”

Does this statement characterize Connecticut’s mental health care system? If so, what is the state doing to develop an efficient system for both customers and providers?

2. Connecticut, like many states, is experiencing a nursing shortage. How does this shortage affect care and treatment of people with mental illness generally and specifically those in department facilities? Is the department taking any steps to alleviate the shortage or to find other ways to provide care and treatment?

3. Connecticut enacted a mental health insurance parity law in 1999. Has this law proven effective? Do any other insurance issues need to be addressed in order to provide better care for people with mental illness?

4. Please describe a recovery-oriented service system and compare it to a mental illness service system. What kinds of services should a recovery-oriented system focus on?

5. What is the department doing to prevent substance abuse, particularly among children and youth? Does the department focus on particular drugs and, if so, which ones and why? Is prevention a departmental priority?

6. Many people with mental health and substance abuse problems end up in the judicial and correctional systems. What can the state do to prevent this? And, where prevention is unsuccessful, what is or can be done to better reintegrate people into the community?

7. President Bush has proposed using federal money to fund faith-based organizations that provide mental health and addiction services, including those based on prayer. Should Connecticut follow this approach?

8. Your agency’s clients often have a hard time finding and keeping a job. What kind of supports do they need to avoid dependency on disability payments?

ISSUES RELATING TO AGENCY RESPONSIBILITY AND PROCEDURE

1. Your agency is responsible, among other things, for direct community-based and institutional services care and treatment for adults and adolescents with psychiatric and substance abuse disabilities, for funding community-based treatment providers, and for preventing drug and alcohol abuse. In a time of budget shortfalls, what are your priorities?

2. What criteria did you use to lay off employees during the recent round of layoffs? If you have the opportunity to refill positions, what criteria would you use to do this?

3. People with mental illness and substance addictions fall into several other state agencies’ jurisdictions. How do you coordinate services with the Corrections, Children and Families, and Mental Retardation departments?

4. Do you have any preliminary indications of the effects of eliminating psychologist services in the Medicaid and State Administered General Assistance programs?

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