Valley Hospital forms plan to offer inpatient psychiatric care
A Las Vegas hospital plans to open a psychiatric unit that would ease crowding at local emergency rooms taxed by the demand for services from the mentally ill.
Valley Hospital Medical Center, on Shadow Lane near Alta Drive, hopes to open an inpatient psychiatric unit with about 50 beds, said Karla Perez, vice president of the acute division for Universal Health Services, which owns the Valley Health System.
The hospital is taking this step to “fulfill a community need,” she said Monday.
“The goal is to reduce patients on hold in the emergency room and place them in a safe environment,” Perez said.
Applause broke out after the plan was announced Monday during a meeting of Gov. Brian Sandoval’s Behavioral Health and Wellness Council at the Sawyer Building in Las Vegas. Perez is a member of the council, which plans to meet again today.
The hospital formed the plan after state officials began contacting various hospitals in Clark County about reaching an agreeable daily Medicaid reimbursement rate for psychiatric patients. The effort is part of a plan that state officials began to put together last month to alleviate the crisis faced by emergency rooms ill-equipped to treat the mentally ill lining up for help.
The current Medicaid reimbursement rate for psychiatric patients is $460 a day. The proposed reimbursement rate that was negotiated is $944 a day, said Richard Whitley, administrator for the Nevada Division of Public and Behavioral Health.
The proposed reimbursement rate awaits approval from the federal Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services. But before it goes to the federal agency, the state will hold a public hearing on the rate change sometime in June, said Mary Woods, spokeswoman for the Nevada Department of Health and Human Services.
It could take months after the public hearing to get approval from the federal agency. But if approved, the proposed reimbursement rate would be retroactive to July 1, she said.
The same reimbursement rate would apply to any other general hospital that shows an interest in opening a psychiatric unit, Woods said.
State officials hope the change to the reimbursement rate will encourage other providers to open more psychiatric units to address the needs of the mentally ill, she said.
“In the past, hospitals had indicated that they couldn’t cover the costs with the reimbursement rate,” Whitley said.
Valley Hospital will renovate and re-purpose an existing unit in the facility to house the psychiatric unit. The hospital has closed its obstetrics unit, Perez said.
The hospital will begin its architectural planning soon and it will begin construction as soon as the reimbursement rate is approved by federal officials. The hope is to open the unit within six months or sooner, she said.
The hospital plans to begin the process of hiring psychiatrists and psychiatric nurses immediately, Perez said.
“I think it will make a significant difference,” she said.
The plan is to focus on Medicaid patients, although it hasn’t been determined whether the hospital also will accept private insurance. Adults ages 22 to 64 became eligible for mental health services under the Medicaid expansion, officials said.
“I think the expansion of Medicaid changed the whole landscape,” Whitley said. “Revisiting the rate was important to expand services.”
Contact Yesenia Amaro at yamaro@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0440. Find her on Twitter @YeseniaAmaro.
