Chairman Tom Cole Weighs in on Murphy's Community-Based Treatment Program

Press Release

Congressman Tim Murphy (R-PA) and Congressman Tom Cole (R-OK) today weighed in on the House Appropriations Committee passage of funding of the Fiscal 2016 Labor, Health & Human Services, Education spending bill, which contained funding for a centerpiece component of Murphy's landmark mental health legislation, the Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act.

Congressman Murphy's Assisted Outpatient Treatment Grant Program for Individuals With Serious Mental Illness, authorized in Section 224 of the Protecting Access to Medicare Act of 2014, was authorized by Congress and signed into law by the President last year, but the program had not been yet fully-funded. With the passage of the appropriations bill, the funds will be available under the grant program for state and counties to operate Assistant Outpatient Treatment (AOT) programs, a successful alternative to long-term inpatient care for those with serious mental illness cycling through the system but never receiving needed care. Yesterday's passage in Committee marks the first time the federal government has ever moved legislation to fund AOT.

"When it goes untreated or unnoticed, mental illness can have serious and heartbreaking consequences upon families and entire communities. In severe cases, it even alienates individuals from society through homelessness and incarceration. Instead of resorting to and relying on long-term inpatient care for mental health patients, I was pleased to include funding for an alternative mental health initiative brought by my colleague Congressman Tim Murphy that directs operation of Assisted Outpatient Treatment programs," said LHHS Appropriations Chairman Tom Cole. "I believe the presence of these programs across the country will allow communities and families to better address and support those suffering with mental illness."

Established in 45 states and dozens of counties across the country as an alternative to long-term inpatient care, court-ordered AOT allows the court to direct treatment in the community for the hardest-to-treat patients -- the fewer than one percent of people with serious mental illness -- who have a history of arrest, repeat hospitalizations, and violence because of their illness. AOT has reduced rates of imprisonment, homelessness, and costly hospitalizations for chronically mentally ill participants by upwards of 70 percent. It has also reduced annual Medicaid costs by 44% for participants.

Said Murphy, "AOT empowers patients and families to work together so they can function in the community with the highest degree of independence. Passage of today's legislation is a giant step towards delivering desperately needed care for the countless families from across all corners of our country caring for loved ones with schizophrenia and severe mental illnesses. I applaud and thank Chairman Tom Cole for his leadership in advancing this groundbreaking treatment model to help families in crisis get into lifesaving treatment."

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