Iowa DHS explains plan to combat waiting times for mental health patients
After KCCI aired Thursday night's story on mental health in Iowa, the Department of Human Services reached out to talk about how it's trying to solve the mental health problems in Iowa.
"I know for youth, for adolescents, something's gotta change," said Amanda Stone-Janssen, a foster parent.
Stone-Janssen's foster child sought out mental health resources at a Fort Dodge hospital. The family waited more than 47 hours in the emergency room for assistance.
Matt Highland, with DHS, said a law signed in the spring was designed to prevent this issue.
"The idea is to meet people where they are when they're in crisis and provide the services they need to help stabilize them," Highland said.
He said changes due to the new law are already underway. The law will create crisis mobile response teams, regional crisis stabilization and a 24-hour hotline access to services. All of these, Highland said, are meant to lessen the need for in-patient beds.
"So with the legislation, they established the children's state board, and right now, they're working through a lot of the details in terms of finalizing the rules for the services, [is] what that timeline looks like," Highland said.
He said DHS expects more funding to be implemented once the board is ready to start up the services. He noted behavioral health care should be covered for anyone under 18 years old in Iowa.
Highland said 97% of young Iowans are covered by either private insurance or Medicaid, while the remaining 3% are covered by the 14 mental health regions.
"It's important to note we've been working on this for 40 years and talking about it, but under this governor, we're finally getting something done and making traction," Highland said.