Questions to the Commissioners

Questions to the Commissioners:
(Mental Health; Public Health; and Mass Health)

Here are two questions I have for the commissioners:

1) What can be done to decrease no-shows for children on Mass Health receiving mental health services? After speaking with providers across the domains, this population has the highest no-show rate for services. As a result, mental health clinics have challenges retaining mental health clinicians to work there. Will the commissions support paying for their no-shows?

2) What can be done to change the mindset that biology is destiny? Massachusetts is behind the times that any biological parent can parent their child without consequences. There are issues of high risk families leaving the hospitals with their infants when there are known facts that the parents may have mental health(untreated) or substance abuse problems. How come nothing is done to be prevent future damage these kids? I support prescreening these parents before they leavthe hospitals like they do for adoptive parents. Parenting comes from the heart and not from chromosomes.

Robbin Miller
Advocate/Private Practitioner