| People keep asking me why the Sacramento County Department of Health and Human Services, Division of Behavioral Health Services (to spare my fingers, hereinafter known as DBHS) is dismantling effective community programs in favor of a monolithic county bureaucracy. Lately, attention has also turned to the Sacramento County Mental Health Treatment Center, affectionately known as SCMHTC, or “schmick,” and why the county keeps paying for this dinosaur rather than replacing it with Medi-Cal funded Psychiatric Health Facilities (PHFs). Earlier today, I found myself answering the question in an email to a prominent mental health activist, and thought it would save a lot of time and trouble to just post it publicly. So here’s my take on why DBHS keeps insisting on spending more money to provide less service. |
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