Because extended boarding in chaotic emergency departments is detrimental to patients and physicians, healthcare systems are creating new facilities to treat mental health emergencies, according to an article on the Healthcare Finance News website.
Thousands of people needing mental health treatment are being dropped at the emergency departments, where under federal law doctors must evaluate them.
Enloe Medical Center in Chico, Calif., is home to the only voluntary acute care mental health program for adults north of Sacramento all the way to Oregon.
It's an unlocked unit where mental health patients are referred for treatment. About 20 percent of those patients are coming from the emergency room.
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