Lack Of Psychiatric Hospital Beds Contributes To Georgia Emergency Department Overcrowding, Officials Say

Main Category: Public Health
Also Included In: Psychology / Psychiatry
Article Date: 30 Nov 2007 - 5:00 PDT

email to a friend   printer friendly   opinions  

The backup of patients with mental illnesses in Georgia emergency departments stems from a lack of available beds at state psychiatric hospitals, hospital officials said on Tuesday, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports.

The officials on Tuesday during a meeting of a state commission studying possible changes to Georgia's mental health system said when psychiatric beds are not immediately available, patients must wait in EDs until a transfer is possible. The Journal-Constitution reports that some patients with acute mental illnesses must wait in EDs for up to three days before they are admitted to a state-run mental hospital. In addition, some psychiatric hospitals refuse to admit transferred patients, including children, and send them back to the EDs, officials told the commission. Officials say the delays can worsen overall congestion and wait times in EDs across the state.

According to a series of articles published earlier this year by the Journal-Constitution, Georgia's seven state psychiatric hospitals face chronic problems with underfunding, understaffing and overcrowding. Although the state has contracted with private facilities to handle the overflow, EDs "are now the pinch point in a mental health system that's not functioning very well," Matt Crouch -- CEO of Peachford Hospital, one of the facilities that contracted with the state -- said at the meeting.

Kevin Bloye, a Georgia Hospital Association vice president, said, "The mental health problem only exacerbates" ED crowding caused by an increasing number of uninsured state residents and aging patients who need more services. Steven Kiner, intake and assessment coordinator of psychiatric services for Emory University Hospital and Emory Crawford Long Hospital, told the panel that "our big concern is that there's no course of treatment in the" ED. He added, "All we're doing is housing them in beds."

According to the Journal-Constitution, state psychiatric facilities often operate at above full capacity, which is "far above generally recommended levels," and a lack of community mental health facilities often keep mental health patients cycling through the system, the commission was told (Judd/Miller, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 11/28).

Reprinted with kind permission from http://www.kaisernetwork.org. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at http://www.kaisernetwork.org/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork.org, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation© 2005 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.

• Additional
• References
• Citations