Environmental scan 2000: issues facing state mental health agencies

With the new millennium, state mental health agencies (SMHAs) are facing a variety of new issues. In this article, the authors report on the changes in state mental health systems that have occurred during the 2 years between interviews conducted with directors of each SMHA. While issues such as managed care, the influence of state Medicaid waivers on the development of public/private partnerships, and federal welfare reform continued to be key concerns, directors are focusing more on other issues such as assessing SMHA operations, establishing linkages with other state health and human service agencies, and inculcating new knowledge, technologies, and model practices.