On Wednesday, a House subcommittee passed House File 263. HF 263 directs the Department of Human Services to spend $200,000 to develop and implement an inpatient psychiatric bed tracking system.
For years, Iowa hospitals have been struggling to determine where beds are located for mental health patients that come to their emergency rooms in crisis.
Providers have to make dozens of phone calls across the state in an effort to find bed placements. This means that patients in crisis have to wait hours or longer in emergency rooms before a bed is found.
Once a bed is found, there is no guarantee the bed will remain open until the person arrives at the placement. This forces family members, or in some instances, deputies to drive across the state with a mentally ill person in crisis, only to be told that they have to turn around and go home because the bed that was open was filled by another person.
In 2013, Iowa lawmakers ordered a bed tracking study, but it brought no major changes. The study recommended that the following occur:
1. An electronic information system should be used to track the availability of inpatient hospital psychiatric services in Iowa.
2. The electronic information system should either expand one of the Department of Public Health’s current electronic systems or it should be a standalone system by a private contractor
3. The hospitals that have psychiatric programs would maintain the information in the system and would work collaboratively to implement policies and procedures to develop an effective system.
4. The electronic information system would include a minimum data set of information that would be necessary for those seeking hospital psychiatric services.
In 2014, there was a $200,000 appropriation set aside for a bed tracking system in the debt reduction bill. Language mandating a bed tracking system was included in the Health and Human Services budget bill that year. Both of these provisions were vetoed by the governor.
This year things are different. The governor proposed closing the mental health institutes in Mount Pleasant and Clarinda.
Patients from these facilities with high acuity will be moved to the other mental health institutes in Independence and Cherokee.
Patients with less severe needs could be placed in community settings. Because of these closures, it is possible that the need for beds will be even greater. Therefore, a bed tracking system is crucial in order to improve mental health services in the state of Iowa.
The Department of Human Services said that they are committed to establishing this bed tracking system with or without the legislation. They plan to use funds that have been freed up because of the Affordable Care Act to pay for the initial implementation of the system.
I look forward to seeing you at one of the next legislative forums on Friday, March 27:
8 a.m. – Wayne County Farm Bureau (Corydon)
10 a.m. – Chariton Mosaic (Chariton)
Noon – Lakeside Casino (Osceola)
2 p.m. – Leon Community Center (Leon)