JACKSON – A Lincoln County legislator’s attempts to reform theMississippi Department of Mental Health this year will not succeed,but her inquiries have left the door open for future oversight ofthe state’s largest agency.

House Public Health Committee Chairman Steve Holland,D-Plantersville, told District 92 Rep. Rep. Becky Currie,R-Brookhaven, there would be no major structural changes to thedepartment this year, a statement which will likely mean the deathof some of her legislation proposing those changes. Holland’sannouncement came Monday at the end of a public hearing on thedepartment, requested by Currie and led by Holland in a publichealth subcommittee meeting.

Holland did, however, recommend the formation of a jointlegislative task force to help the department shift its focus inthe coming years. He said the department was not failing in itsmission, but acknowledged there is room for improvement.

“If it means closing a house, throwing the director out, that’swhat we’ll have to do,” he said. “As soon as the session ends, Ipromise we’re going to join hands with the department of mentalhealth.”

Holland’s response was a reference to Currie’s two bills, one ofwhich would place new qualifications on the department of mentalhealth’s director and another that would require its employees topay rent for their state-provided homes. The bills’ necessity wasseemingly devalued by testimony at the hearing.

Mississippi Department of Mental Health Executive Director EdLeGrand should not be replaced, but should have a medicallyqualified director to serve under him, said Dr. Bo Holloman, whodirects the University of Mississippi Medical Center’s psychiatricemergency room.

LeGrand agreed with a committee member that the free homesprovided by his department to its facility directors – a majorpoint of contention for Currie – are necessary to compete withother states in employing qualified personnel. LeGrand did say,however, that he is opposed to the requirement that his directorslive on the grounds, saying it sometimes serves as an impediment tohiring those personnel.

“I wish to hell that I didn’t have to live in that housing,”LeGrand said. “I wish the Legislature would pass a bill that saysas those houses become vacant they be either bulldozed or filledwith physicians.”

Currie’s legislation proposing that such directors pay rent -House Bill 1343 – may be reviewed by the committee, Hollandsaid.

Several of the department of mental health’s operations werediscussed at the hearing.

Brookhaven’s Johnny Perkins, a member of the state board ofmental health, raised concerns that the department operates thestate’s largest nursing home at Mississippi State Hospital.

He said the department spends approximately $55,000 annually perpatient, whereas private nursing home care averages about $36,000per patient. Perkins also said the department’s charge does notgrant authority to run a nursing home.

LeGrand said 60 percent of the home’s residents are psychiatriccases, and the other 40 percent are housed to meet guidelines fromthe federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Withoutthem, he said, the department of mental health would not receivematching Medicaid funds, which are used to offset approximately$7.5 million of costs in the department’s $632 million budget.

“If the Legislature wants us to close those nursing homes, we’llbe happy to do that, but it will be a very painful closing,”LeGrand said.

LeGrand also said, when asked by Currie, that former departmentdirector Randy Hendrix works as a part-time consultant forEllisville State School for $52,000 per year, on top of his stateretirement pay. Currie charged the money could be better spent onpatient care, but LeGrand said the school needed such services andits director decided to outsource the job to Hendrix.

As for more wide-ranging criticism, LeGrand insisted hisdepartment has been engaged in strategic planning to shift thefocus of the department from institutionalized care tocommunity-based care, something the department was criticized for alack of in the Legislature’s Performance Evaluation and ExpenditureReview. LeGrand has said in the past that his department embracesthe report and is working to follow its recommendations.

“We are in the process right now of trying to turn the Titanic,”said Dr. Pat Ainsworth, former chairman of the mental health board.”The board is working very hard with Mr. Ed LeGrand to make thatturn.”

Ainsworth said the department wants to downsize its institutionsand move patients into privatized and regionalized care, butthere’s no simple way to do that. More money needs to be spent forthe state’s community health centers, she said, and the downsizingcannot commence until those centers are ready to receive morepatients.

LeGrand said the department could “never build enough beds” toserve all of the state’s mentally ill, saying a shift to preventionand community-based services are necessary. He said the departmenthas been operating on the same methods for 25 years, and thosemethods no longer work.

Although Currie’s immediate attempts to change the department ofmental health will not come to fruition this year, she said she issatisfied that the hearing was held and information was passedbetween department officials and legislators.

“I think we shed a light on a lot of problems in the department,and we’ll be moving in the right direction,” she said. “Our onlyintent is to do better by the patient.”