Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report Rounds Up Recent Behavioral Health Care News

The following summarizes recent behavioral health news from around the country.

• Michigan: Aurora Healthcare Inc., Wayne County's "largest community psychiatric hospital," has lost its contract with the Detroit-Wayne County Community Mental Health Agency and may no longer provide treatment to patients in the public mental health system, the Detroit Free Press reports. The agency, citing pending litigation by the hospital against the department, did not disclose why it terminated its contract. However, Karen Schrock, the agency's director, said the county was "concerned about the quality of care." The facility has recently been cited for two patient deaths, dirty facilities and insufficient staff, among other concerns. The move surprised hospital officials because last month CMS accepted the hospital's "correction plan" (Wendland-Bowyer, Detroit Free Press, 1/8).
• Nevada: Community activists testified before the state Legislative Committee on Health Care on Jan. 8 that mentally ill patients are "overburdening" emergency rooms in Southern Nevada, the Las Vegas Sun reports. The committee is considering creating a separate facility that would care for the mentally ill. Such a program would help emergency room staff ensure mental health patients quickly receive "specialized" care, advocates said (Richmond, Las Vegas Sun, 1/9).
• South Carolina: The more than $26 million cut from the state Department of Mental Health's budget last year has led to a reduction in the number of psychiatric beds available and resulted in an "influx" of mental health patients receiving care in emergency rooms, the Columbia State reports. The department is attempting to shift care from state facilities to community-based care, but the policy has reduced the number of beds available for short-term care (Freiden, Columbia State, 1/6). The number of these beds has dropped from 250 to 175, while some are also being used by long-term care patients. Now, the state is working "with its limited resources" and with hospitals and other state agencies to "find a solution" to emergency room overcrowding (AP/Charleston Post and Courier, 1/7).
• Texas: Dallas MetroCare Services, a "quasi-public agency" that provides mental health care for 6,000 low-income residents, may be forced to cease operations due to its financial problems, the Dallas Morning News reports. Metrocare owes more than $1.5 million in back taxes, has an operating loss of $500,000, has missed payments to its employee pension plan and has no cash reserve. County officials are meeting with officials from the agency and the state Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation to determine if the state will take control of MetroCare's operations. A second option is to let the agency fold, after which patients would be divided among other providers (Housewright, Dallas Morning News, 1/10).
• Virginia: In his last budget proposal before leaving office, Gov. Jim Gilmore (R) again called for the closure of two state mental hospitals and the replacement of another, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reports. Gilmore attempted to close the facilities last year, but legislators "criticized" the administration for not consulting with local officials. This time, administration officials say that none of the facilities would close until a plan is developed to care for affected patients. One state legislator has introduced a bill to improve community-based care with the money saved from closing the hospitals. Gov.-elect Mark Warner (D) has yet to take a position on the proposed closures (Martz, Richmond Times-Dispatch, 1/11).