Department of Mental Health asks for recurring funds to eliminate deficits, expand mandated programs and bolster community care

Dr. Robert Bank, interim director of the Department of Mental Health, told the Senate Finance Committee Health and Human Services Subcommittee on March 27 that DMH is requesting multiple recurring appropriations to eliminate operating deficits, expand capacity for court-ordered forensic care and sustain community services.

Bank said the department has improved its statewide 988 call-answering performance from about 58 percent to about 88 percent of incoming calls in January and February after adding a second center and partnering with the Mental Health Association in Greenville and a new DMH-operated center in Charleston. He said fewer than 1 percent of calls required EMS or law enforcement responses.

Bank outlined the agency’s requested recurring funding by priority and provided figures during the hearing: • Forensic programming: $13,700,000 recurring. Bank said about $6,000,000 of that would cover an operational deficit at the Columbia inpatient facility; the remainder would support opening 50 additional beds and expanding jail-based restoration services to complete competency restoration in some local…