Hoopguru
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Sep 16, 2014
- Messages
- 22,351
- Likes
- 18,486
- Points
- 113
This article imo hits on an area where we need strong leadership.
Hospitals sue Oregon Health Authority over failure to provide mental health facilities for patients
Providence Health & Services, Legacy Health and PeaceHealth allege that the Oregon Health Authority has forced them to provide mental health care they’re not equipped to give, for patients who instead should be civilly committed to psychiatric institutions such as the Oregon State Hospital.
The state psychiatric hospital’s ongoing capacity crisis, along with a recent court ruling that places strict limits on who can be admitted to the facility, has left community hospitals with nowhere to send patients in need of mental health treatment. Instead, hospital representatives say they have been forced to care for those patients long-term, without the resources to do so.
“The necessary components for safe and effective treatment provided at long-term care facilities — such as security, private rooms, kitchens and physical exercise — are not feasible at hospitals that are also responsible for meeting the short-term acute care needs of their communities,” a joint statement for the three facilities read. “As a result, patients left in these environments by OHA do not receive needed care and, in many cases, decompensate back to unstable conditions.”
Amber Shoebridge, a spokesperson for the state hospital, did not directly comment on the lawsuit.
“Oregon Health Authority and Oregon State Hospital remain focused on the care of the hospital’s patients and supporting them on their road to recovery as they search for a new path forward,” Shoebridge wrote in an email.
The hospital systems are pushing for the health authority to begin admitting civilly committed patients again at the Oregon State Hospital. Doing so, however, would require the state hospital to defy a federal court order issued last month.
Trying to stem a capacity crisis at the hospital, a judge ruled in August that the hospital must only admit patients accused of a crime but found unable to aid in their own defense, or those found guilty except for insanity. The judge also determined that the hospital must impose strict time limits on how long they keep those patients, so that they can quickly admit new ones who are waiting in jail for treatment.
“Civilly committed” patients are those who have been deemed a danger to themselves or others, and whom a judge has ordered for involuntary treatment at the state hospital. As the hospital has experienced an influx of aid-and-assist patients, it has moved away from accepting other patients.
Those patients are often initially committed to an acute care hospital for short-term medical treatment. But the three medical facilities who filed the lawsuit say they are shouldering the responsibility for far longer than that because the state psychiatric hospital doesn’t have room to take the patients.
The hospital systems say Oregon Health Authority’s failure to provide adequate facilities for civilly committed patients is a violation of their civil rights and said it is unfair for the health authority to prioritize the care of aid-and-assist patients.
—Jayati Ramakrishnan
Hospitals sue Oregon Health Authority over failure to provide mental health facilities for patients
- Updated: Sep. 28, 2022, 5:22 p.m.|
- Published: Sep. 28, 2022, 2:44 p.m.
Providence Health & Services, Legacy Health and PeaceHealth allege that the Oregon Health Authority has forced them to provide mental health care they’re not equipped to give, for patients who instead should be civilly committed to psychiatric institutions such as the Oregon State Hospital.
The state psychiatric hospital’s ongoing capacity crisis, along with a recent court ruling that places strict limits on who can be admitted to the facility, has left community hospitals with nowhere to send patients in need of mental health treatment. Instead, hospital representatives say they have been forced to care for those patients long-term, without the resources to do so.
“The necessary components for safe and effective treatment provided at long-term care facilities — such as security, private rooms, kitchens and physical exercise — are not feasible at hospitals that are also responsible for meeting the short-term acute care needs of their communities,” a joint statement for the three facilities read. “As a result, patients left in these environments by OHA do not receive needed care and, in many cases, decompensate back to unstable conditions.”
Amber Shoebridge, a spokesperson for the state hospital, did not directly comment on the lawsuit.
“Oregon Health Authority and Oregon State Hospital remain focused on the care of the hospital’s patients and supporting them on their road to recovery as they search for a new path forward,” Shoebridge wrote in an email.
The hospital systems are pushing for the health authority to begin admitting civilly committed patients again at the Oregon State Hospital. Doing so, however, would require the state hospital to defy a federal court order issued last month.
Trying to stem a capacity crisis at the hospital, a judge ruled in August that the hospital must only admit patients accused of a crime but found unable to aid in their own defense, or those found guilty except for insanity. The judge also determined that the hospital must impose strict time limits on how long they keep those patients, so that they can quickly admit new ones who are waiting in jail for treatment.
“Civilly committed” patients are those who have been deemed a danger to themselves or others, and whom a judge has ordered for involuntary treatment at the state hospital. As the hospital has experienced an influx of aid-and-assist patients, it has moved away from accepting other patients.
Those patients are often initially committed to an acute care hospital for short-term medical treatment. But the three medical facilities who filed the lawsuit say they are shouldering the responsibility for far longer than that because the state psychiatric hospital doesn’t have room to take the patients.
The hospital systems say Oregon Health Authority’s failure to provide adequate facilities for civilly committed patients is a violation of their civil rights and said it is unfair for the health authority to prioritize the care of aid-and-assist patients.
—Jayati Ramakrishnan
