Mental Health Care in W.Va.

The Associated Press reports that "as behavioral health care providers wait for Gov. Joe Manchin's decision on a bill that could boost payments for their services, the state is looking to establish more than 100 new beds for patients at public and private psychiatric hospitals."

"State health officials say the effort is one component of its plan to provide care for West Virginians suffering from mental illnesses' AP's Tom Breen writes. "Mental health care advocates, though, say adding new beds ignores the underlying problem."

Manchin, meanwhile, told The Charleston Gazette on Wednesday that he hasn't decided whether to sign the bill boosting payments, "but one of the bill's sponsors says there is enough support in the Legislature to override a possible veto."

Manchin also told The Gazette that "he is concerned the bill could interfere with federal Medicaid guidelines," and "may not have been "vetted enough" because it didn't go through either chamber's Health and Human Resources committee. "

Behavioral health care centers continue to urge the governor to sign the bill, with recent coverage of that from the News and Sentinel of Parkersburg and (updated) Public Broadcasting (with audio).

In a related development, The Register-Herald of Beckley reports that "negotiations that began 18 months ago have produced a non-binding letter of intent to build a new, 100-bed facility on the campus of Beckley Appalachian Regional Hospital to treat the mentally ill."