Massachusetts To Stop Payments to Hospitals for Mental Health Care

Massachusetts beginning Nov. 1 will no longer pay for around 200 uninsured patients hospitalized each year with severe mental illnesses, the Boston Globe reports. The state had subsidized such care through the Department of Mental Health, but now the costs will be shifted to private hospitals, which are required by law to provide treatment in "critical situations" (Barry, Boston Globe, 10/31). The mental health department's budget this year has been reduced by $13.8 million, leading to the elimination of free services for individuals with mental illnesses (Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, 9/10). Mental Health Commissioner Marylou Sudders said, "It's a billing change. It should be absolutely seamless. If somebody needs to be psychiatrically hospitalized, they are going to be hospitalized." Still, some are concerned the cut could lead to "overcrowded emergency rooms or even a rise in homelessness," the Globe reports. Roy Ettlinger, CEO of Arbour Health Systems, which operates three hospitals and "numerous" counseling centers in the state, said, "I fear we're going to have more people with mental illness on the street and in shelters," adding that the decision to shift costs to private facilities "assumes that this money is going to magically come from another source." David Matteodo, executive director of the Massachusetts Association of Behavioral Health Systems, said, "We're stuck. ... Who knows what other populations" will be shifted to hospitals' budgets (Boston Globe, 10/31).