Submitted by Lew Nicholls
The last piece of legislation signed by President John F. Kennedy was the Community Mental Health Act establishing community mental health centers (CMHCs). Kentucky adopted CMHCs as a provider for mental health, substance abuse, and intellectual and developmental disability services in areas that could not afford them. Kentucky adopted a regional model, meaning that certain CMHCs were designated to operate in specific areas. For the citizens in Boyd, Carter, Greenup, Lawrence, Morgan, Elliott, Rowan, Bath, Menifee, and Montgomery Counties, that CMHC is Pathways. Respecting those regional boundaries is important as the state appropriates money for the CMHCs to provide services in their respective regional areas. Additionally, the state allows the CMHCs to charge patients and bill MEDICARE and MEDICAID for these services when appropriate. If Pathways provided services outside its service area, it would divert resources away from its designated service area. Venturing into another CMHC’s area weaken that region’s CMHC’s ability to provide services and generate the necessary revenue to remain viable for the community it serves.
While state laws and regulations set forth that CMHCs are to serve a designated regional service area, the specific counties of those service areas are not defined. For over 50 years, the CMHCs provided services only in their designated area development districts. Recently, some organizations have started providing services outside of their traditional region, negatively impacting those CMHCs who abide by the legislative intent of the law.
On January 24, 2022, Representative Dan Bentley (R-Greenup) filed HB 349 bill to fix this problem by requiring all CMHC’s to remain in their assigned areas and by clearly identifying those areas. This was the intent of the Legislature when they set up the regional areas. Please contact your state senator and representative and tell them to support HB 349.
Lew Nicholls is a retired judge, former legislator and current member of the Pathways, Inc. Board of Directors.
