A State House resolution from State Representative Jim Struzzi has led to a study on behavioral health efficiency by the Joint State Government Commission.
House Resolution 268 directed the Joint State Government Commission to study the impact of the state’s current behavioral health needs and behavioral health care system capacity on hospital emergency visits and patient health. That report, published yesterday, focused on that and three other areas:
- Impact of federal and state laws and regulations on the ability of the commonwealth’s health care system and providers to treat behavioral and physical health issues.
- The prevalence of psychiatric boarding, which encompasses time spent in the hospital emergency department after medical stabilization of a patient and prior to the admission or transfer of that patient to an inpatient psychiatric bed
- Current treatment needs to determine the impact of psychiatric boarding on the behavioral health care system and patients in Pennsylvania.
The report also contains recommendations to make sure that health care providers in the state are adequately able to treat patients with co-occurring behavioral and physical health issues.
In a news release, Struzzi said the shortage of mental health professionals and lack of access to treatment services is forcing emergency rooms to serve as a backup for proper psychiatric treatment, and that could delay patients access to the proper treatment needed would not only impact the patients, but the delivery system outcomes as well. He added that “by studying the specific elements of the treatment pathway, we can truly understand the complexity of a system we do not yet fully comprehend.”
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