A bill that would increase independent oversight of the Montana State Hospital passed the Senate on Tuesday.
The bill would automatically send reports of abuse, neglect, death and other incidents at the state hospital to Disability Rights Montana within five days.
The state hospital lost federal oversight and funding last year following patient deaths. Disability Rights Montana Executive Director Bernie Franks-Ongoy says that loss makes her organization’s role in protecting state hospital patients even more important.
“Previous to this, we had to know about the incident and then make a request for the records,” she said.
She adds that this bill would make sure Disability Rights Montana knows about all incidents of neglect and abuse at the facility. The bill will now move to the House for consideration.
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State health officials said they will pay community providers to do court-ordered mental health evaluations. Scam artists are trying to trick Montanans out of their money or sensitive personal information.
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Workers in state-run medical facilities will soon get a raise. This comes as the state struggles to hire permanent medical workers, but state health officials have a plan to recruit and retain more staff.
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State Health Department Director Charlie Brereton said his office plans to apply for recertification of the state hospital with the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) by the end of the year.
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The state has announced its first plans for spending a $300 million pool of money created to boost Montana's ailing mental health and disability care systems.
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Families of former Montana State Hospital patients are suing the state. They say the state failed to prevent neglect, injuries and other issues at the psychiatric facility.
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The Montana State Hospital’s forensic unit has been struggling for years to keep up with the number of inmates criminally committed to the facility. That’s led to long wait times in jail cells for inmates awaiting treatment. State health officials said they have a way to fix the problem.