State Auditor’s Office Will Investigate Mental Health System

In September, I posted about the 10,000+ patients in Western North Carolina who were losing their mental health services as part of our state’s mental health “reform.” This news followed an earlier series of reports in the Winston Salem Journal about that community’s struggles with mental health reform. Today the News & Record reported that the state auditor’s office will undertake a broad investigation of North Carolina’s mental health system.

Earlier this year, state funding for mental healthcare was increased by $80 million, and the Joint Legislative Oversight Committee on Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities and Substance Abuse Services will meet later this month to consider an additional increase of $600 million over the next five years.

A second look at mental health reform? Additional funds for mental health care? That feels like… hope.