Modern Healthcare (11/3, Muchmore, Subscription Publication) reports that a provision “keeping a House mental health reform bill from relatively easy passage involves assisted outpatient treatment [AOT].” Some organizations “and about 20 Democrats in the House Energy & Commerce Committee say…AOT is not proven to be helpful and the law as currently written would punish the five states that don’t have AOT laws on the books.” But, “John Snook, executive director of the Treatment Advocacy Center, said AOT treatment is necessary.” In fact, “the practice is supported by the US Justice Department, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, American Psychiatric Association and National Alliance on Mental Illness, he said.”
Related Links:
— “Congress wrestles with court-ordered mental health treatment,” Shannon Muchmore, Modern Healthcare, November 2, 2015.