Now to a fight between hospitals and
the Oregon Health Authority over the
handling of civil commitment cases.
We've talked a lot about civil
commitment over the last month.
That's when a person has a severe
mental illness but denies treatment
and they're forced to get it anyway.
Well, legacy health, Providence health,
and peace health are now suing the OHA
because the state hospital has all but
stopped taking civil commitment cases.
Reporter Evan Watson explains why
hospital systems are frustrated that
they're now picking up the slack.
3 Oregon Hospital systems are
suing the Oregon Health Authority,
saying the state is forcing
them to provide long term mental
health care when their hospitals
just aren't built for that.
Our community hospitals that
provide acute inpatient treatment
for behavioral health are
meant to stabilize individuals
and then once they're stabilized,
move them to the next layer
of care that they need.
When we can't do that,
those those beds that are
are not accessible for people
who are in an acute. Crisis
Melissa Eckstein is president
at Unity Center for Behavioral
Health. We're seeing a
tremendous backup, meaning
we're not able to get people
into the services that they need.
We're starting to see individuals
staying longer in our emergency
rooms when they're trying to
access behavioral health services.
We're seeing people not being able to
get into outpatient services as easily
as they were maybe a couple of years ago.
State hospitals stopped admitting most
civil commitment patients in 2019,
even though about 500 people are
committed in the state each year.
As a result, the number of civil
commitment patients at the state
hospital has dropped from hundreds
of people to about a dozen.
OHA has followed federal court rulings
to prioritize mental health patients
who are facing criminal charges or
considered guilty except for insanity.
But hospital leaders say this
practice violates the civil
rights of commitment patients,
leaving hundreds of people in
community hospitals that aren't.
Designed for long term care,
we want to end the cycle of people not
being able to get the care that they
need in the moment that they need it,
and to advocate for having a full
continuum of care regardless of
where people are in their crisis.
In a statement, the Oregon Health
Authority said it's focused on the
care of the hospitals patients and
supporting them on the road to recovery
as they search for a new path forward.
OHA did not comment on the lawsuit.
The suit claims the state has known for
years about OHA's failure to provide.
Quote appropriate and legally required
treatment to civilly committed individuals.
Following a 2017 study that found limited
acute care beds and emergency room backups,
a civil commitment can last up to six months.
The Providence Legacy and Peace Health
Hospital systems won a federal judge to
rule that OHA's practices toward civil
commitment patients are unconstitutional
and for the state to assume care of
long term civil commitment patients.
Evan joins me now.
And the state hospital story is the
gift that just keeps giving, right.
So how many patients are in
these local private hospitals,
right? So we had Providence,
peace, health and legacy and
I asked them that I said,
so how much are you dealing with?
What does this look like on an annual basis?
They gave me an estimate of around
200 civil commitment patients
that those three hospital systems
are are working with each year.
And again, a civil commitment can
last up to six months, 180 days.
So those are beds that would be
occupied for a long amount of time,
potentially taking that away,
which is their concern.
Leading to this lawsuit
that was filed recently.
And then just like with the aid and assist,
I'll bet there's people that would
like to get into those hospital beds,
but there's no room because those
people are there because they
can't go to the state hospital
and it just goes around. Around,
right. Some longer wait times
than those emergency department
type situations sometimes or
people looking for other options,
even outpatient or other counseling
and other services like that
can be delayed or affected by
this according to the hospitals.
Yeah. All right.
Good stuff as always. Thank you, Kevin.
And Speaking of the state hospital,
yesterday we showed you how Marion
County Commissioners are worried.
Those who are released early from
the Oregon State Hospital could
end up on Salem streets instead of
the county where they came from.
And it is a valid concern.
But there are worries inside the
hospital about another issue staffing.
There are more than 200 job openings there,
and state lawmakers just authorized
$1.7 million to fund another
20 full-time positions.