news-record.com

What legislators heard Monday about inefficiencies in the state's troubled mental health services program shouldn't have surprised them.

And, although the report by the legislature's Program Evaluation Division cites some belated progress in providing nonmedical care for mental health patients living at home, it may be too late to salvage the costly initiative.

Barring a last-minute change of heart, the poster child for waste and inefficiency will end up on lawmakers' chopping block.

Who can blame them? The Department of Health and Human Services has done too little, too late to rein in costs, decide appropriateness of services or provide adequate oversight.

No wonder a leery General Assembly wants to suspend the controversial community support program and replace it with one yet to be formulated in hopes of delivering better care at more manageable costs.

The report further underscored revelations in an earlier News & Observer of Raleigh series describing an ill-conceived, mismanaged program that, despite good intentions, cost the state way too much in tax dollars.

While shifting emphasis to community care and relying less on state hospitals makes sense, there also must be commensurate cost containment. Unfortunately, that hasn't happened. The report contends that DHHS shortcomings hit taxpayers for $635 million in less than three years, including $226.2 million in state Medicaid alone.

What went wrong has been well documented. Unqualified private contractors often were overpaid for providing superfluous services like taking kids swimming or to the movies.

According to this report, providers quickly took advantage of limited oversight and poor state planning. Basic reforms weren't instituted until millions already had been squandered.

Despite belt-tightening, problems remain. DHHS Secretary Lanier Cansler, who inherited a mess when he took over in January, says the agency is hampered by an antiquated electronic billing system. He added that rules regarding public comment and appeals still make it difficult to control costs.

Small wonder the legislature is unlikely to forge ahead with an expensive, flawed plan, particularly when the state faces an unprecedented budget deficit.

The report suggests that state agencies first ought to take the necessary time to plan and test initiatives and get a handle on costs before implementation. That's worth noting for the future.

But for now, needy recipients can't be allowed to fall through the cracks. The challenge will be providing them with adequate stop-gap assistance until a longer-range fix can be made.