COLLINS & BINGAMAN UNVEIL MEASURE TO INCREASE CHILDREN’S MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) and Susan Collins (R-ME) today renewed their push to pass legislation that seeks to improve the availability of mental health services for children and adolescents in this country. It is estimated that 20 percent of American children and adolescents have a diagnosable mental or emotional illness, the most common of which include anxiety disorder, attention deficit disorder, and depression. Of these, less than one in five will receive needed care. A major reason is that mental health services for children are in short supply. According to a recent U.S. Bureau of Health Professions report, the demand for child and adolescent psychiatrists is projected to increase by 100 percent by 2020. But the number of such professionals is expected to increase by only 30 percent. The result will be a shortage of more than 4,000 child and adolescent psychiatrists by that year. "The shortage of mental health professionals is a serious problem that will grow into a crisis over the next decade if we don't act now," Bingaman said. "Too many young Americans who have diagnosable, treatable mental illnesses are suffering without proper treatment. We should be doing better by our children. This bill puts us on the right track." "Serious mental illness afflicts millions of our nation's children and adolescents; and tragically, two-thirds of all young people who need mental health treatment do not receive it," Collins said. "Even more disturbing are reports that this problem will likely worsen in the next decade due to an inadequate number of mental health professionals. This bill takes steps to increase the number of mental health professionals specializing in children and adolescents, so children with serious mental or emotional disorders might receive the care they desperately need and deserve." To address the shortage of mental health services for young people, Bingaman and Collins today introduced the Child Health Care Crisis Relief Act. The measure takes several steps to increase the number of specialists trained to deal with children's mental illnesses, including setting aside a total of $45 million over fiscal years 2004 through 2008 to: • Provide educational loan repayment assistance and scholarships for child mental health and school-based service professionals; • Provide grants for graduate schools to help develop and expand child and adolescent mental health programs. • Provide grants for graduate schools to support internships and field placements in child mental health services. • Provide grants to help with the pre-service and in-service training of paraprofessionals who work in children's mental health clinical settings. • Increase the number of child and adolescent psychiatrist slots permitted under the Medicare Graduate Medical Education Program and extends the Board Eligibility period for residents and fellows from four years to six years. The measure also instructs the secretary of health and human services to prepare a report on the distribution and need for child mental health and school-based professionals. The bill is cosponsored by Democratic Senators Tom Harkin of Iowa, Christopher Dodd of Connecticut, Ted Kennedy from Massachusetts, Jack Reed from Rhode Island and Senator Sarbanes of Maryland. ###