Assembly panel discusses bids on mental health triage

Kirsten Searer

Monday, Feb. 28, 2005 | 11:05 a.m.

Several members of the Assembly Ways and Means Committee said Monday that more companies should get a chance to bid on providing Clark County with a mental health triage center.

Assembly Bill 40 would allot $500,000 for a center in Clark County and $100,000 for a center in Washoe County that would treat people with mental health or substance abuse issues. Patients would stay up to 72 hours before they are placed elsewhere.

WestCare has operated the triage center in Clark County since it opened in January 2003. More than 15,000 patients -- people who otherwise might end up in an emergency room or jail -- have gone through the center, said Dan Musgrove, the county's director of intergovernmental relations.

"We came to WestCare because it was the only vehicle out there even willing to step up," Musgrove said.

If the Legislature establishes funding for the triage centers, then other companies will be able to bid for the centers in Clark and Washoe counties, said Assemblywoman Sheila Leslie, D-Reno, a sponsor of the bill.

Leslie said the bill isn't a "money grab" for WestCare.

Assembly Ways and Means Committee Chairman Morse Arberry, D-Las Vegas, said it looked like a money grab to him.

Leslie called the bill an important part of solving the emergency room crisis in Clark County, where mental health patients can clog up beds and hold up ambulance workers while they wait for care.

"This is intended to be completely out in the open," Leslie said. "I firmly believe that triage centers are indeed an important part of the continuum to solving the emergency room crisis. Otherwise, I wouldn't be here."

Right now, the state kicks in very limited funding for the Clark County center, which costs about $229,000 a month to operate, Musgrove said. The county's 12 hospitals pay about $108,000 a month, and the five local governments give about $85,000 a month, he said.