New Hampshire Senate addresses psychiatric boarding bill

A proposal aimed at preventing mental health patients from languishing in emergency rooms won preliminary approval Jan. 31 in the New Hampshire Senate, The Associated Press reported. The bill sent to the Senate Finance Committee would spend $6 million of the state surplus to encourage the construction of hospital psychiatric units by doubling the state's reimbursement rate for designated receiving beds and subsidizing hospital renovation costs. The 16–8 vote, with two Republicans joining Democrats to advance the bill, came after the Senate rejected an amendment that would have spent significantly less on so‐called designated receiving beds but would have added money for mobile crisis teams that could help patients avoid emergency rooms. The average number of adults waiting in emergency departments for inpatient psychiatric admission each day has quadrupled to more than 40 in the last six years. On Jan. 31, there were 43 adults and seven children waiting around the state, according to the state chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness.