Nashville – Centerstone, Tennessee’s largest provider of mental health services, announced they are providing $800,000 in free services to its patients who are severely mentally ill and transitioning from TennCare.
“Centerstone’s soft landing initiative is an example of how we can all work together to find solutions to help fill the gaps in services for people leaving TennCare,” Gov. Phil Bredesen said. “For the safety net to extend broadly enough to reach those coming off TennCare and the additional 700,000 Tennesseans who have no health insurance, it requires not only the effort of the state of Tennessee, but also the efforts of providers like Centerstone, doctors, pharmacists, local governments, churches, among others.
“I thank Centerstone for the strong example they’re setting through this program, and I acknowledge all the individuals and organizations that are stepping forward each day to help broaden our state’s safety net services for the uninsured,” Gov. Bredesen added.
Through Oct. 31, current Centerstone clients who have severe mental illness and are being disenrolled from TennCare will continue to receive clinically necessary treatments they received through TennCare Partners, CEO David Guth said. Centerstone, a nonprofit behavioral health organization, will absorb the $800,000 cost of providing those services without charge to its current clients.
“The Centerstone board of directors has set aside funds to achieve a humane and clinically responsive transition for these individuals,” Mr. Guth said. “Centerstone is committed to providing a ‘soft landing’ for our clients who are leaving TennCare to help them lead lives focused not on a disability but on family, work and community.”
During the soft landing period, Centerstone will work with clients and their families to determine individual treatment plans.
Gov. Bredesen announced in July that he was setting aside $11.4 million for a mental health care safety net program to benefit nearly 21,000 Tennesseans with mental illness so severe that it has impaired their ability to function in society for at least six months. The funding allows Centerstone and 19 other community-based nonprofit mental health agencies to continue providing many of the essential services that previously were provided by TennCare.
Individuals with severe mental illness who are coming off TennCare must register with community mental health agencies for the mental health Safety Net which includes assessment, evaluation, diagnostic, therapeutic intervention, psychiatric medication management and certain laboratory services. These individuals also have access to generic drugs and one antipsychotic drug from a formulary until June 2006. They also are eligible for the pharmacy card that provides at least a 50 percent discount on generic and 10 percent discounts on brand-name drugs available to all disenrolled Tennesseans.
While the Mental Health Care Safety Net’s benefits are more limited than TennCare, it provides a foundation of care for patients and their health care providers, Commissioner of Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities Virginia Trotter Betts said.
“Centerstone’s Soft Landing demonstrates how mental health agencies can work with the State to provide the greatest possible benefits from limited financial resources. Centerstone’s generosity helps us meet the needs of the most vulnerable Middle Tennesseans,” she said.
For more information about programs and services such as prescription assistance programs, other insurance options and local medical services, call the Tennessee Health Options hotline at 1-888-486-9355 or visit www.tnhealthoptions.org. The hotline also can connect TennCare disenrollees to the Ask-A-Nurse service if they want to discuss a health or medical condition with a registered nurse. The hotline provides a list of health care resources in each county, including local health departments and nonprot clinics that may provide free or low-cost services based on ability to pay.
The Tennessee Health Options hotline and web site initiative was established through a plan to strengthen Tennessee’s health care safety net. In June 2005, Gov. Bredesen appropriated $115 million in the 2005-2006 state budget to strengthen health care options in conjunction with reforms to TennCare.