Lawrence General Hospital will use a $3 million grant from the Office of the Attorney General to add bilingual behavioral health coordinators to follow up patients released from the emergency room.
The hospital, one of 11 nonprofits statewide, aims to provide patients in need of urgent mental health care with access to treatment without going through a hospital emergency department. Sharing Mental Health Transformation Services Grants. In the Lawrence General case, a new coordinator will provide intensive case management following emergency department visits related to behavioral problems. This includes ensuring that individuals have access to medications after discharge and the services they need in the community, including peer support services.
“Demand for emergency mental health care services statewide is putting unprecedented pressure on hospital emergency departments and overall capacity,” Healy said. will help address existing shortages and ensure that residents in need of mental health care services receive adequate support.”
The state further states that if a patient requiring mental health services must wait in an emergency department or medical operating bed, sometimes days or weeks, until a psychiatric bed or other appropriate service becomes available. explained that emergency department boarding would occur.
Circumstances leading to so-called boarding crises, such as increased demand for mental health services and understaffing, have increased the need for community-based crisis care paid for through the program.
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