Mental Health Controversy

I am a licensed marriage and family therapist in private practice in Ventura. Here are some questions that puzzle me regarding the Ventura County mental health controversy:

Why did the federal Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA) affirm its commitment to the Assertive Community Treatment model for adults, which has much in common with the Ventura model, Systems of Care?

Could it be that the only problem with Ventura County’s mental health care system was not the delivery of services by a multidisciplinary team (which was a state and national model) but instead the attempt to produce more revenue by linking services to a hospital license?

Why is Ventura County the only county in the state to seek reimbursement in this way?

Why do we continue to go it alone despite HCFA telling us the clinics do not live up to the medical license-imposed reimbursement model? Let it go!

LOLA J. HAAG

Ventura