The Department of Mental Health Inpatient Study Commission

The purpose of the Department of Mental Health (DMH) Inpatient Study Commission is to assist the Executive Office of Health and Human Services (EOHHS) and Department of Mental Health in fulfilling its vision to provide a most responsive mental health delivery system that embraces the values of recovery, choice and self-determination. The Commission will, after a series of public hearings, evaluate the DMH inpatient and community systems of care; determine an appropriate inpatient capacity for the Department; and recommend a plan to the EOHHS Secretary for consideration by the end of June 2009.  Although time-limited, the Commission’s work will assure a transparent, comprehensive, independent and timely process that values input from all stakeholders.  

Overarching the Commission’s work is the Department’s vision and commitment to the Community First Plan for all adult consumers.  The Community First Plan strengthens consumer choice; is family-focused and driven by client outcomes; achieves person-centered care; and relies on the development of an extensive peer workforce. Enhanced ability to move through the community and inpatient systems of care is another hallmark of the Community First Plan. The following guiding principles will inform the Commission’s work:

1.	Individuals with mental illness are empowered to live with dignity and independence in the community.
2.	Consumers have access to a full range of quality services and supports to meet their mental health needs.
3.	The DMH continuum of care enables individuals to live, work and participate in their communities. 
4.	The DMH system of care is consumer-centered and recovery-oriented.
5.	Services are flexible, recovery-based and person-centered and support consumer choice.
6.	Individuals transitioning from institutional settings to the community are supported in the most appropriate manner. 
7.	Limited resources are used and managed effectively.

The Commission’s recommendations will consider the following:

1.	Implementation of the DMH Community First plan for adult consumers. 
2.	Transition and consolidation of existing inpatient facility capacity to support the opening of the new state-of-the-art psychiatric facility in central Massachusetts in the spring of 2012.
3.	Continuation of the highest quality of care in accredited state operated facilities, providing services based in evaluation, rehabilitation and a safe environment for individuals in need of continuing inpatient care and/or forensic evaluation and services. 
4.	Maintenance of the continuum of care in which psychiatric units in acute and private psychiatric facilities have timely access to transfer of consumers requiring continuing care and patients ready for discharge receive timely community placement.
5.	Development of community services that assure sustained flow of the Department’s continuum of care.
6.	Acknowledgement of the Department’s fiscal realities and responsibly implementing a plan that continues the Department’s fulfillment of its obligation to citizens of the Commonwealth.