State mental health policy: It's never too late to do it right: lessons from behavioral health reform in New Mexico.

This column describes an initiative to reform the public behavioral health system in New Mexico, which has placed publicly funded services under the management of a single for-profit private corporation. The authors discuss problems that they attribute to the state's "top-down model of planning and implementation": complex documentation requirements that increase administrative burden on providers, unrealistically high expectations for a comprehensive information technology system, inadequate monitoring that hampers assessment of reform, and insufficient attention to the rural safety net. They call on other states to better incorporate experiences of those delivering and receiving services into the design and timing of reform initiatives.