Regulation and consultation in community care facilities

Residential community care facilities for deinstitutionalized patients are severely criticized for providing poor-quality care. Yet deinstitutionalization occurred without adequate planning or funding, and facility administrators were left on their own with virtually no regulation and no involvement with the mental health profession. Mental health professionals must focus on improving their understanding of the problems experienced by the community care industry, build alliances with facility administrators, and collaboratively design regulatory and consultative interventions that will help administrators reintegrate the mentally ill into the community. The author uses regulatory and consultative approaches implemented in California and Virginia as case examples.