By David Waite
Advertiser Staff Writer

The amount the state spends on services for seriously mentally ill adults would nearly double over the next four years under a plan unveiled today by state Health Director Bruce Anderson.

The state currently spends about $62 million a year to provide services to about 4,500 adults who need treatment for various mental health problems. But proposals contained in a report titled “Adult Mental Health Statewide Needs Assessment,” which was done by North Carolina-based Technical Assistance Collaborative Inc. and the Human Services Research Institute, the amount would climb to $122 million a year.

Martha Knisley, senior consultant for Technical Assistance collaborative, said the additional funding would give hawaii a “fully comprehensive system" to meet the needs of mentally ill adults.

Anderson said the report’s completion is a “major step forward” in terms of the state meeting the needs of mentally ill adults in Hawaii.

“With proper funding, we could look forward to lifting the weight of federal oversight and eventually addressing the settlement agreement issues,” Anderson said.

The federal Department of Justice sued the state in 1991 over the conditions at the Hawaii State Hospital in Kaneohe, a state-run facility for the treatment of adults with serious mental health problems. Later that year, state health officials agreed to a settlement or “consent decree” in which they promised to make a series of improvements to the facility.

From 1991 to 1996, state health officials worked primarily on improving health and safety conditions at the hospital, Anderson said. Since then, the focus has been on treatment and discharge of patients at the hospital, which currently has space for 168 patients.

The hospital currently receives about $27.4 million, or about 44 percent of the annual mental health services budget, to provide inpatient services. Under the plan released yesterday, that amount would decrease to about $11 million four years from now.

At the same time, amounts allocated for “community living” for services such as half-way houses and monitored independent housing would be increased from about $7.5 million at present to more than $23 million four years from now.

While the $60 million increase in funding would enable the state to provide one of the best care systems in the country for adults with serious mental health problems, at least $24 million must be spent “over the next several years” in order for the state to abide by its agreement with the federal government to improve mental health services for adults, Anderson said.

He said leaders in the state House of representatives have been briefed on the plan and have pledged support for adding the requested $8 million increase for adult mental health services to next year’s budget. The plan will be presented to state Senate leaders shortly.