Minnesota Hospital Association study shows huge gaps in appropriate care for mental health patients
Study found roughly one in five days mental health patients spent in inpatient community hospital psychiatric units could have been avoided.
The Minnesota Hospital Association released a study Friday that shows significant shortcomings in patients getting appropriate care for mental health issues in their hospitals.
MHA found that roughly one in five days mental health patients spent in inpatient community hospital psychiatric units could have been avoided. "Potentially avoidable days" are defined as days mental health patients spent admitted to the hospital when more appropriate treatment would have been given in a different care setting.
The study, which the MHA called the first of its kind, tracked "de-identified" mental health patients admitted to inpatient psychiatric units at 20 participating Minnesota hospitals or health systems from March 15 to April 30, 2016.
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Results showed that of the 32,520 total mental health bed days in all participating hospitals, 6,052 – or 19 percent – were identified as potentially avoidable, with this figure translating to approximately 48,000 potentially avoidable days in a year in just 20 of Minnesota's 147 hospitals.
The MHA study also pointed out 26 reasons why those avoidable days happened, which were grouped into two primary categories: 64 percent were due to lack of space in a state-run mental health hospital, residential treatment center, nursing home, group home, chemical dependency treatment service or other setting; 30 percent were due to social service or government agency delays, including identifying an appropriate treatment location for a patient, completing agency approvals or other administrative processes, or resolving legal proceedings involving the patient.
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"On any given day, 134 patients across these 20 hospitals could have been more appropriately served in a different care setting," said Dr. Rahul Koranne, MHA's chief medical officer. "Bottlenecks exist throughout the mental health care delivery system, resulting in patients remaining in community hospitals for extended periods of time – which in turn means that hospital beds are unavailable to others in the community experiencing mental health crises."
Some of the participating hospitals included various Allina Health hospitals, Mayo Clinic Health System In Albert Lea and Austin, Mayo Clinic Health System in Mankato, Mayo Clinic Rochester and St. Luke's Hospital.
Twitter: @BethJSanborn
