FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: March 4, 2014 PSYCHIATRIC BED REGISTRY GOES LIVE The Virginia Acute Psychiatric and CSB Bed Registry helps clinicians locate available psychiatric beds in the event of a mental health emergency RICHMOND, VA –Virginia’s Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services (DBHDS), Virginia Health Information (VHI), Virginia Hospital and Healthcare Association (VHHA) and community services board (CSB) representatives launched the Virginia Acute Psychiatric and CSB Bed Registry. This state-led effort strives to provide pre-screeners with accurate, detailed information for bed availability in Virginia’s public mental health hospitals, private hospitals and crisis stabilization units. The online registry has been implemented statewide and is hosted by VHI. The web-based bed registry is live and is ready for use by CSB clinicians to assist in locating an available bed for individuals experiencing a mental health crisis who are under an emergency custody order and need to receive treatment under a temporary detention order. “When a CSB pre-screener is attempting to locate a psychiatric bed for someone in crisis, time is of the essence,” said John Pezzoli, Acting DBHDS Commissioner. “As changes are being made and examined, such as the General Assembly’s consideration of lengthening the period of emergency custody, this online bed registry is another important tool to help ensure that people who need mental health help get it precisely when they need it most.” The Virginia Acute Psychiatric and CSB Bed Registry will: Be updated at least daily by state and private hospital and crisis stabilization unit (CSU) staff; Provide up-to-date data that enables CSBs and psychiatric hospitals to search for bed availability at all private hospitals with psychiatric beds, state facilities, and CSUs 24-hours a day, seven days a week; Allow bed registry users to tailor queries to precise needs (age, facility type, location, level of security, patient type, etc.); And enable DBHDS administrators to monitor and evaluate bed usage and availability and use that data to increase efficiency. DBHDS, VHI, and health care providers worked closely together to design the registry to meet the varying needs of community service boards, public and private psychiatric hospitals. “In addition to helping emergency services personnel in their initial efforts to place patients in need of psychiatric care, information gathered through the online registry can also shed light on how the need for inpatient psychiatric services varies statewide, regionally and locally,” said Michael Lundberg, VHI Executive Director. All CSBs, CSUs, and state hospitals are required to participate. Private providers’ participation is voluntary, but they continue to be eager partners in this initiative. The registry is not real-time but is updated at least daily to show available beds at each psychiatric facility in the state. Once an available bed is located using the online bed registry, CSB clinicians will still need to take the additional step of contacting the hospital directly to ensure that the hospital is able to accept the specific individual and whether the bed is appropriate to meet the individual’s psychiatric treatment as well as any other medical needs. DBHDS, VHHA, and VHI will frequently monitor the Psychiatric and CSB Bed Registry implementation and usage.
Posted on: Tue, 04 Mar 2014 22:40:08 +0000
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