7 results for tag: #hospital
Reform of Colorado courts’ competency system on chopping block at statehouse, supporters say
April 19, 2024
By: Shelly Bradbury
Criminal prosecutions are paused while defendants go through treatment designed to restore them to competency. If a person is restored, the prosecution can proceed; if a person can’t recover, the criminal charges must be dismissed.
“Right now the highest cost of what is happening around competency is paid in human suffering,” said Lauren Snyder, vice president of government affairs at Mental Health Colorado. “That to me should be a priority for our state in making sure we are not letting people languish in jail who are there just because they have a mental health condition.”
The state has poured ...
Tennessee should not fall for tough-on-crime rhetoric, but rather embrace bail reform
April 18, 2024
By: Vincent Atchity
Welcome back to bail reform, Tennessee – sort of. Let’s hope your experiences are less fraught than those of some other states, although your initial return to the topic raises some concerns about the eagerness some have to put people who are innocent until proven guilty behind bars. It is still desirable to minimize the use of bail, because bail is a relic of colonial times that has no place in a society that seeks justice for all.
Bail, for those unclear on what it is, is a deposit that someone who’s been arrested can pay to avoid waiting in jail for their charges to be resolved.
People who can afford ...
“I don’t think she was a lost cause”: How one Colorado overdose victim fell through the cracks
April 14, 2024
By: Meg Wingerter
People who have both a mental illness and a substance-use disorder often struggle to get treatment that addresses all their needs, because most providers still primarily focus on one or the other, said Vincent Atchity, president and CEO of Mental Health Colorado. Mental health facilities often won’t admit people in active addiction, he said.
The Denver area needs more “housing first” options, which get people off the street even if they aren’t ready to stop using drugs immediately, said Atchity, of Mental Health Colorado. Offering wraparound services where people live increases the odds they’ll agree ...
Colorado legislators push obesity prevention bill, governor’s approval is uncertain
April 12, 2024
By: Marissa Ventrelli
Erin Harrop of Mental Health Colorado echoed Chastain's concerns with the pharmaceutical industry profiting from weight loss medications whose long-term effects have not yet been fully studied. She said the longest trial of GLP-1 medications on obese individuals lasted only two years.
"Like the opioid epidemic, the pharmaceutical industry stands to make huge profits before the long-term studies are even completed as desperate patients and well-meaning providers seek solutions," she said.
Read the full article in Colorado Politics
Colorado legislators set aside $7.2 million to fund longer psychiatric hospital stays
March 29, 2024
By: Seth Klamman
Once the money’s appropriated, a waiver expanding hospital stays would need to be approved by the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. But other states have already taken similar steps, meaning approval is likely. Much of the money set aside in the state’s budget — $5 million — is federal.
“By prioritizing funding for these Coloradans to be able to get the care they need rather than be prematurely discharged, we are saving state resources in the long run and creating healthier communities,” Vincent Atchity, the president and CEO of Mental Health Colorado, said in a statement. “Pol...
Decades-old rule pushes mentally ill Coloradans out of hospitals too soon. Legislators may finally change it.
December 11, 2023
By: Seth Klammann
Barbara Vassis keeps a spreadsheet to track her daughter’s years-long journey through Colorado’s patchwork mental health system.
The sheet goes back 11 years, a third of Erin’s life. There are holes in the narrative: Her daughter is schizophrenic bipolar, Vassis said, and she’s moved around different parts of the country. Still, even incomplete, Vassis’ growing tracker provides a glimpse at the revolving doors that Erin and hundreds of other Coloradans are stuck in every year.
From April 2021 to April 2022, for instance, Erin spent 106 days bouncing between emergency rooms, detox facilities, ...
Two Colorado mental health centers merge, creating largest in the state
November 16, 2023
By: Jennifer Brown
Two of Colorado’s community mental health centers will merge in July, creating the largest behavioral health center in the state. WellPower, which provides mental health services and homeless outreach in Denver, is combining with Jefferson Center, the safety-net mental health organization for Jefferson, Clear Creek and Gilpin counties.
Together, the two have almost 2,000 employees and serve about 48,000 people per year. The centers have mobile medication-assisted treatment for patients addicted to opioids, walk-in crisis centers and outreach programs that send mental health professionals out with RTD ...
