Minnesota Hospitals, Health Plans Would Fund Halfway House for Mentally Ill Under State Proposal

To alleviate a "severe shortage" of psychiatric beds in the Minneapolis metro area, Minnesota officials have proposed a plan under which the state's health plans and hospitals would contribute at least $5 million to open at least one transitional housing unit for patients who have been released from hospitals, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reports. Because the shortage of psychiatric beds is "so severe," some Minneapolis patients are sent by ambulance to Duluth, Minn., or Des Moines, Iowa, for treatment. A shortage of transitional housing, coupled with a 16% increase in mental health admissions since 1999, has contributed to the bed shortage, state officials say. The Minneapolis metro area has approximately 700 beds for transitional care, and there are about 500 in the rest of the state. Patients who are well enough to be released often "tie up" hospital beds because they have no place to go while they "get back on their feet," the Star Tribune reports. Hospital and health plan executives, state Health Commissioner Jan Malcom and state Attorney General Mike Hatch (D), who met twice over the last two weeks, have proposed that hospitals and health plans contribute between $250,000 and $1 million each toward a "mental health trust fund" that would pay for between 30 and 50 transitional beds. Adults and adolescent patients would receive psychiatric care, job counseling, help locating housing and other services through the transitional program. Malcom said the trust fund, which would be run by community groups, could be used for other services, such as outpatient care, to "relieve pressure" on hospitals. According to Hatch, the group hopes to have a complete plan in place within six weeks. In the meantime, Hatch said he would work with the group to resolve issues surrounding low payment rates for mental health care, which has led to a shortage of mental health providers in the state (Marcotty/Howatt, Minneapolis Star Tribune, 9/18).