Mental hospital may not solve ER problems

Thursday, Jan. 13, 2005 | 10:57 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- State Human Resources Director Mike Willden says construction of a new mental hospital in Las Vegas will not solve all of the problems of psychiatric patients filling the beds in emergency rooms of hospitals in Clark County.

Willden said he "gets a chewing out weekly" from hospital officials who complain that the mentally ill are taking the beds needed for those with urgent physical problems.

His statement Wednesday was made to the Legislative Interim Finance Committee that approved a plan that will allow construction on the 150-bed hospital to begin in the next month and be completed in mid 2006.

The problem, Willden said, has not subsided. There were 60 to 70 patients in emergency rooms Tuesday night waiting to be admitted to the state's existing mental hospital.

The problem has been made worse by private hospitals in Las Vegas eliminating 140 beds for psychiatric patients, he said.

"Those hospital psychiatric beds have got to come back," Willden said.

Assemblywoman Chris Giunchigliani, D-Las Vegas, agreed, saying, "The private sector needs to come back in." She said it was time for a public-private relationship to solve the problem.

In addition, Willden said, the rate paid by Medicaid for treatment of mentally ill patients in private hospitals must be increased to make it more profitable for the private sector to offer psychiatric care.

He also said there are three proposals for nonprofit hospitals to be built in Clark County, and there must be money to pay for the psychiatric beds in those hospitals.

The 2003 Legislature allocated money for the construction of the new psychiatric hospital and the state Public Works Board estimated the cost at $25.7 million, but the low bid in December by Sletten Companies was $27.8 million.

The Interim Finance Committee Wednesday agreed to allow the public works board to deter $3.7 million worth of construction and permit the awarding of the bid to Sletten. The board will ask the upcoming Legislature for $3.5 million to complete the project on time. It will also ask for $7 million to add another 40-bed wing to the hospital while it is under construction.

Gus Nunez, deputy general manager of the Public Works Board, said the hospital would not be functional if it doesn't get the $3.5 million from the 2005 Legislature.

Nunez told the committee that the cost of materials escalated by about 12 percent a year when the board initially estimated a 4 percent inflation rate. He said he hoped the rising costs could be held down to 5 percent.

Senate Majority Leader Bill Raggio, R-Reno, told Nunez he wanted the board to "keep a tight oversight" on the project. He said he didn't want to see the problems that plagued the construction of the Veterans Home in Boulder City reoccur at the hospital.

Nunez replied, "We will stay on top of it."

The board, he said, has started an "early warning system" to detect when contractors get in trouble.

Voting against the plan were Sens. Barbara Cegavske, R-Las Vegas, and Sandra Tiffany, R-Henderson.

Cegavske said the neighbors to the hospital at the present site of mental health services in Clark County are still opposed to the project. She said she supported a new hospital but at another location.

Tiffany, who also disliked the location, said the state should provide regional beds and should start a triage center.

Assemblyman Morse Arberry, D-Las Vegas, chairman of the interim committee, said the issue really hit home for him on Tuesday when one of his employees fell at her home and cracked her head.

The employee waited 12 hours at the emergency room in Summerlin until a bed opened up.

"We have got a crisis," he said.