In my most recent life I was an emergency behavioral health assessor. In my new life I am a student who will be exposed to folks in a low-acuity hospital setting (its a hospital-based detox/crisis stabilization unit). This will help me flesh out understanding of the folks referred by assessors. This gap in my knowledge will be filled and will hopefully translate into better decision-making on the front end. Patients and their families will hate that; they want what the American medical system has taught them to want: instant gratification.
Which Way NC article about ED use and the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA). I agree with Which Way NC's point that ED usage will increase as folks get less access to care and rationing leads to more crisis intervention services--by the way, clinicians hate this because they are trained to provide care to help people get better, not manage crises.
Check out this news: more funding cuts to the NC mental health system handed down from Raleigh. This link is from the Watauga Democrat in Boone, but it is happening across the state.
<blockquote>
"Across its service area, Smoky Mountain Center was
dealt state cuts to several pots of funding, according to chief financial officer Lisa
Slusher:
— $974,070 from its substance
abuse block grant
— $1.67 million from its single-stream funding,
which can be used for any age, disability or service
— $783,979
from its social services block grant, which provides for child mental health services and adult
and child intellectual/developmental disabilities
— $48,000 for its
drug treatment court in the northern region, which includes Watauga County
It also will operate with $113,574 less from
county contributions."</blockquote>
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