Texas Merges Drug Treatment, Mental Health Services
Saying their goal is improving public health, Texas government officials are dissolving the state Department of Health, the Texas Commission on Alcohol and Drug Abuse, and the Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation to create two new agencies: the Department of State Health Services and the Department of Aging and Disability Services, the Houston Chronicle reported Sept. 1.
The Department of State Health Services will oversee mental and medical health services for clients, including addiction treatment. The Department of Aging and Disability Services will oversee services for the mentally retarded, the disabled, and the elderly.
Health Commissioner Eduardo Sanchez said the new configuration should allow the state to treat the health needs of residents holistically.
"As a family physician in the past, I didn't take care of a person's pancreas or a person's heart. I took care of the whole person," Sanchez said. "We will have the tools to do it now."
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