Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Report: ER Has Become 'Dumping Ground' For Psych Patients Abandoned By Health System
Modern Healthcare: ER Wait Times, Length Of Stay Far Longer For Psychiatric Patients
Psychiatric patients wait disproportionately longer in emergency departments before receiving treatment and experience longer stays compared to other medical patients, according to reports released Monday by the American College of Emergency Physicians. The three separate studies examined how emergency rooms care for patients with psychiatric conditions compared to other patients by looking at ER wait times and length of stay. (Castellucci, 10/17)
Kaiser Health News: Scarcity Of Mental Health Care Means Patients — Especially Kids — Land In ER
On any given day, pediatrician Lindsay Irvin estimates a quarter of her patients need psychiatric help. She sees teens who say they are suicidal, and elementary school children who suffer chest pains stemming from bullying anxiety. Though she does her best, she doesn’t consider herself qualified to treat them at the level they need at her practice in San Antonio. She doesn’t have the training, she said, to figure which medications are best suited to treat their various mental health conditions. And she doesn’t have time. She’s juggling stomach ailments, vaccinations and ear aches. (Luthra, 10/17)
The Philadelphia Inquirer: Emergency Physicians Say Psych Patients Wait Too Long For Care
A group representing emergency physicians said Monday that hospital emergency departments routinely are clogged with patients who are waiting, sometimes for days, for inpatient psychiatric care. The American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP) bolstered its case with data from a poll of more than 1,700 emergency physicians as well as research presented at its annual meeting this week in Las Vegas. (Burling, 10/18)
