Former California social services head Will Lightbourne has come out of retirement to lead the state’s mental health accountability commission following its executive director’s resignation in the wake of conflict of interest allegations.
Category: mental health
California Falling Short of Enrollment Goal as Mental Health Courts Roll Out Statewide
California’s goal was to help 2,000 seriously mentally ill people by the end of this year, but data shows fewer than 600 petitions have been filed. As the CARE program expands to every county, officials say it sometimes takes months to locate eligible adults and get them in treatment plans.
Georgians With Disabilities Are Still Being Institutionalized, Despite Federal Oversight
For nearly 15 years, the feds have had oversight of Georgia’s treatment of people with mental illness and developmental disabilities. Observers say the state still jeopardizes some of its most marginalized residents by not meeting the terms of its settlement with the Justice Department.
Ex-Eye Bank Workers Say Pressure, Lax Oversight Led to Errors
Corneas, the windshields of the eye, are the most transplanted part of the human body. But four former employees at Rocky Mountain Lions Eye Bank told of numerous retrieval problems, including damage to eyes and removal from the wrong body.
Watch: Why the US Has Made Little Progress Improving Black Americans’ Health
KFF Health News senior correspondents Fred Clasen-Kelly and Renuka Rayasam discuss how government decisions undermine Black health.
For People With Opioid Addiction, Medicaid ‘Unwinding’ Raises the Stakes
Medications such as methadone can cut the risk of a fatal opioid overdose in half. Medicaid covers the medication. But as state Medicaid programs reevaluated coverage of each enrollee following a pause in disenrollments during the covid-19 pandemic, some patients lost a crucial pillar of their sobriety.
California Mental Health Agency Director To Resign Following Conflict of Interest Allegations
Toby Ewing, executive director of California’s Mental Health Services Oversight and Accountability Commission, is resigning amid an investigation into his conduct and revelations that he traveled to the U.K. courtesy of a vendor as he sought to protect state funding for its contract.
A California Official Helped Save a Mental Health Company’s Contract. It Flew Him to London.
The director of a California state mental health agency traveled to the U.K. courtesy of Kooth, a digital mental health company with a $271 million contract to build a therapy app for the state’s youth. Weeks earlier, he pressed key legislative staffers to restore a proposed cut to Kooth’s funding.
Mountain Town Confronts an Unexpected Public Health Catastrophe
Flooding wrought by Hurricane Helene devastated communities around Asheville, North Carolina. A host of government programs are helping restore water, food, and medicine.
California Continues Progressive Policies, With Restraint, in Divisive Election Year
This legislative cycle, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed bills affirming reproductive rights and mandating insurance coverage of in vitro fertilization, but the Democrat was reluctant to impose new regulations and frequently cited costs for vetoing bills.
