State health officials Thursday updated lawmakers on their plan to improve care at the Montana State Hospital and to apply for federal recertification in roughly 18 months.
Health officials expect the facility to be $38 million over budget this year as it deals with a heavy dependence on traveling staff and the loss of federal funding. The federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services pulled certification following patient deaths, blocking Medicaid and Medicare reimbursements from flowing to the state hospital.
Diane Rafferty with the consulting firm Alverez and Marsal listed several recommendations to help the state hospital work toward recertification. Among them is closing down what’s known as the Spratt unit, which serves elderly patients with severe mental health conditions.
“When you look at the facility in Lewiston for the nursing care center, it’s built for and could maybe improve the care delivery if we move those Spratt patients to the nursing care center.”
Rafferty also noted that the Spratt unit building would need substantial repairs in order to be recertified by CMS. Rafferty added that the state needs to reduce its overall dependence on the state hospital to take care of people with mental health conditions. The hospital serves as the only psychiatric hospital for adults in the state.
“This is a lofty goal, but it is very important for your state and the citizens you serve to look at, what is a regional health care delivery system?”
The state health department is asking lawmakers to approve Gov. Gianforte’s $300 million budget request to reform the state’s behavioral health system. Health department director Charlie Brereton told lawmakers he envisions utilizing a little over $100 million of that behavioral health reform fund to build two regional mental health centers to provide care for up to 100 patients.
Those centers would provide a higher level of care than community mental health services can provide, while utilizing state hospital beds for patients who need the highest level of mental health care.
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Aaron BoltonThe state health department is offering $6.5 million in grant funds to help county jails offer mental health evaluations, medication and stabilization services to inmates. The hope is that inmates on the waiting list for care at the Montana State Hospital can get that care in jail instead. -
Josh BurnhamThe state health department could be split in half under a bill that would break up the state’s largest agency. -
Montanans with severe mental illnesses that are accused of crimes can languish in jail for more than a year as they wait for a bed at the state psychiatric hospital. New legislation would build a facility for those patients in eastern Montana. -
Aaron BoltonMontanans living with severe mental illness are cycling in and out of ERs, jails, shelters and the state psychiatric hospital. Many never get the long-term help they need. One Missoula woman has been caught in that cycle for years. Her daughter uprooted her life to help. MTPR's Aaron Bolton brings us their story and reports on whether proposed reforms to the state mental health system offer them hope.
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Aaron BoltonLegislation that would allow the state psychiatric hospital to deny court-ordered commitments is on hold. State health officials and advocates disagree about whether more patients can be served in the community.
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Aaron BoltonState health officials want to add more facilities for discharged state hospital patients who need support reentering their community.
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Aaron BoltonA disability rights watchdog group is suing Anaconda-Deer Lodge County, saying it violated a Montana State Hospital patient’s right to vote.
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Aaron BoltonThe state’s only psychiatric hospital for adults won’t apply for federal recertification for at least another year. Construction at the Montana State Hospital is holding up the process.
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State lawmakers declined to support two bills that would fundamentally change how Montanans are committed to the state psychiatric hospital. -
Aaron BoltonThere is more turnover among Montana State Hospital leadership. This comes as the state prepares to apply for federal recertification. The state’s psychiatric hospital for adults has gone through a handful of leaders since it lost federal certification in 2022 due to patient deaths.
