Washington Plan to Transfer Mentally Ill from State Institutions to Community Facilities Draws Criticism

Washington Gov. Gary Locke's (D) proposal to shift hundreds of "severely mentally ill" individuals out of the state's two psychiatric hospitals and into community-based facilities has drawn strong criticism from mental health advocates and professionals who say the governor's plan is rushed and underfunded, the AP/Seattle Times reports. Under the two-year plan, Locke would impose cuts of $32 million for Western State and Eastern State hospitals, and the 422 elderly, drug-addicted or "brain-damaged" patients currently housed in those facilities would be transferred to local, community-based centers. The plan is expected to save the state $15 million (Cook, AP/Seattle Times, 2/14). The Seattle Post-Intelligencer reports that it is "not hard to see why Locke aimed his budget ax at the state's two mental hospitals" -- together, the hospitals spend roughly $164 million to treat 1,300 patients per year. Local facilities, on the other hand, spend $326 million per year to treat 46,000 people per month. However, patients now in the state's facilities were committed there "because they posed a danger to themselves or others," and the local organizations do not have the "secure, highly staffed facilities" that such patients require, the Post-Intelligencer reports. The state Department of Social and Health Services has said it can develop and license new facilities within a year, but mental health advocates -- while agreeing in theory that "many patients would be better served closer to home in less restrictive settings" -- say that Locke's plan does not provide "nearly enough money" to run such facilities successfully.

A Numbers Game
Advocates and lawmakers discussed the plan on Feb. 13 at a hearing before the state Senate's Ways and Means Committee. Tim Brown, DSHS assistant secretary for rehabilitative services, said that the patients who would be affected by the transfer "no longer need the intensive psychiatric services they receive at" state hospitals (Foster, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 2/14). The AP/Seattle Times reports, however, that the numbers for Locke's plan "had changed" by the committee hearing. Brown said he did not know "how much the proposal would save or cost," and added that if the 422 patients were discharged as planned, community facilities could only handle 15% of them. He said that counties and cities would have to create or expand facilities to care for the remaining 85% (AP/Seattle Times, 2/14). Mental health professionals and advocates said Locke's proposal would hurt individuals with severe mental illnesses and place them and the public at risk. "If these draconian cuts are adopted, Washington's mental health system is headed for disaster," Dr. Dean Brooks, chair of the Western State Hospital Board, said, adding, "Chances are (these patients) will either become homeless or wind up in jail." Ways and Means Committee Chair Lisa Brown (D) added, "It's pretty clear that the governor's proposal doesn't add up. It's clearly going to take longer and cost more" (Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 2/14).