State Rep. Verla Insko wants the person who runs the state Department of Health and Human Services to make more money.

The Chapel Hill Democrat has introduced a bill that would make the DHHS secretary's salary at least 15 percent higher than the highest paid doctor in the department, Lynn Bonner reports.

As a member of the governor's cabinet, the DHHS secretary's salary is set in the state budget. DHHS head Lanier Cansler makes $120,363 a year.

The job exemplifies one of those situations where the head of an agency has a number of subordinates who earn much more.

Dr. Michael Lancaster, an administrator who works in Raleigh, is the department's higest paid doctor. He makes $268,591 a year.

If Insko's bill passed, the secretary's salary would more than double, to $308,879.

More after the jump.

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Dorothea Dix is gone in name only.

A judge may have ruled the state can't move patients out of Raleigh's Dorothea Dix Hospital because of safety concerns with a new mental hospital in Butner, but that doesn't mean N.C. Department of Health and Human Services officials can't try to eliminate the name of the 19th century social reformer for which the historic facility was named.

Michael Lancaster, co-director of the state Division of Mental Health, issued a memo Monday ordering that Dorothea Dix no longer exists, at least on the telephone, Michael Biesecker reports.

All Dix employees are now to follow the following script when answering calls:

Good Morning or Good Afternoon
Central Regional Hospital Raleigh Campus
This is (your name)
How may I help you?

The state mental health division wants to start moving mentally ill patients from Dorothea Dix hospital in Raleigh to a new hospital in Butner, even though the division has not met conditions set out in state law for the transfer.

The law required assurances that the new hospital, Central Regional in Butner, would be accredited by two agencies before Dix patients move in, reports Lynn Bonner.

But one of the agencies, the Joint Commission of Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations, has said it will not even visit Central because Dix patients and staff are not there.

That set up a Catch-22, said Dr. Michael Lancaster, co-director of the state Division of Mental Health. Central Regional cannot be accredited because Dix staff and patients are not there, but staff and patients aren't there because it is not accredited.

Lancaster said he would recommend to his boss, state Department of Health and Human Services secretary Dempsey Benton, that Dix patients start moving, and leave the decision up to Benton.
Tomorrow, Dix will stop accepting patients to its geriatric ward. Central Regional will take them instead.

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The head of John Umstead Hospital is stepping down.

Patsy Christian, who faced criticism for commissioning a portrait of herself with state money and problems with patient abuse, is resigning as executive director, according to a release from the N.C. Department of Health and Human Serivces.

She will still work at the department, according to Secretary Dempsey Benton.

"We are appreciative of her dedication to serving the consumers in the state psychiatric hospitals over the years and her commitment to developing the plans to operate the new Central Regional Hospital," he said in a statement. "The state will greatly benefit from her continued involvement in the management of the hospitals."

Dr. Michael Lancaster, a board-certified child adolescent psychiatrist, will serve as interim director of the mental hospital. 

Leza Wainwright and Dr. Michael Lancaster got salary bumps with their promotions to co-directors of the state Division of Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities and Substance Abuse Services.

Wainwright, who had been the division's deputy director received a $5,979 raise, to $125,558 a year. Lancaster, who was chief of clinical policy, got a $7,614 raise, to $261,402, Lynn Bonner reports.

They replaced Mike Moseley who retired at the end of February after nearly four years as director.