(Undated)– After months of study, a five-year plan to switch to a new way of delivering mental health and disability services across Iowa is now ready for legislative consideration in the upcoming session. It calls for spending 47-million dollars for a system redesign. The idea is to move from separate systems in each of the state’s 99 counties, to a regional system. Rik Shannon with the Iowa Disabilities Council says the idea has some people with disabilities concerned about convenience in terms of accessing the services they need…Click here for sound bite
Supporters of a regional system say it would be more efficient in delivering services and more cost-effective. And Shannon points out that now, not all types of services are available in each county…Click here for sound bite
Under the current system, he adds, there is a wide variance in quality and availability of services, because funding comes from local property taxes. If a redesigned system is passed by the Legislature, it would take about five years to put into place.
(From the Iowa News Service).
