State health officials plan to apply for federal recertification for the state psychiatric hospital next year.
The Montana State Hospital lost its federal certification in 2022 due to patient deaths. That decertification means the state can’t bill Medicaid or Medicare for patient services – a funding loss that has cost the state millions of dollars.
The Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services initially said it would apply for recertification in 2024, but it delayed the timeline into this year due to ongoing remodeling projects at the hospital near Butte.
Department Director Charlie Brereton told lawmakers this week that those projects are still underway.
“So, wrapping up some capital projects and then other recertification activities and work streams at MSH,” he said. “But we’re gearing up for that application to the federal government no later than Jan. 1 of the new year.”
The recertification process is expected to take several months.
Brereton also told lawmakers the department is increasing the number of civil and criminal commitment beds by repurposing old state health care buildings and adding more beds at the state hospital. Lawmakers also approved about $26 million for the department to build a step-down psychiatric facility in eastern Montana.
That expansion may help reduce wait times for individuals in the criminal justice system. Inmates who need mental health care often wait months for a state psychiatric bed.
