[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 41 (Tuesday, March 15, 2016)]
[House]
[Page H1347]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 NEW MEXICO'S BEHAVIORAL HEALTH CRISIS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from New 
Mexico (Mr. Ben Ray Lujan) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. BEN RAY LUJAN of New Mexico. Mr. Speaker, 3 years ago in my home 
State of New Mexico, our behavioral health system was thrown into 
crisis when the State froze payments to 15 New Mexico behavioral health 
providers, resulting in the eventual closure of some and replacement by 
5 Arizona providers.
  This transition and turmoil caused many New Mexicans to fall through 
the cracks. As a result, too many families are hurting, too many people 
are suffering, and too many New Mexicans have been unable to access the 
care they need.
  To date, 13 behavioral health providers have been exonerated of 
fraud, the charges leveled by the State of New Mexico as the reason to 
cut off funding. But the damage has been done. That is why, along with 
my colleagues, Ms. Michelle Lujan Grisham in the House and Senators Tom 
Udall and Martin Heinrich, I have called for a Federal investigation 
into this unwarranted and reckless disruption of services to some of 
our most vulnerable citizens.
  I am also working with the delegation on legislation to prevent 
something like this from ever happening again. I am working to 
strengthen a behavioral health system that is currently in shambles 
through legislation that will provide enhanced funding to States that 
prioritize behavioral health infrastructure, data, and access. If we 
want States to build and maintain strong behavioral health systems, 
then we must provide States with the necessary support.
  During our many conversations with CMS on the crisis and its impact 
on New Mexicans, it has been clear there is a lack of meaningful data 
that is needed to hold policymakers accountable. It is unacceptable 
that after months and months of requesting State-provided data on the 
behavioral health system in New Mexico, CMS would simply determine this 
data to have ``significant limitations.''
  A report from New Mexico's Legislative Finance Committee identified 
similar concerns. The report stated that the amount and quality of 
utilization data collected by the State of New Mexico had 
``deteriorated, leaving the question of whether enrollees are receiving 
more or less care.''
  Without access to meaningful data, we cannot determine how best to 
invest to strengthen our behavioral health system, and we cannot 
possibly know if we are doing enough to ensure that the most vulnerable 
are being protected. What we do know is New Mexico's behavioral health 
system has been needlessly broken and that a full accounting is 
necessary to rebuild it and ensure that this will never happen again.

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