Banner Health invests $2.2 million to create Banner Psychiatric Center
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. (June 7, 2010) – Banner Health has begun a $2.2 million renovation project to create the Banner Psychiatric Center to ease behavioral-health-related holds in hospital emergency departments.
Located on the campus of Banner Behavioral Health Hospital in Scottsdale, the psychiatric center is slated for completion in August 2010. The center will have an observation area for 24 patients and will be staffed 24/7 with physicians, nurse practitioners, RNs, behavioral health technicians and counselors. Banner Health Foundation is providing more than $580,000 to help fund the renovation project.
Patients in crisis will be admitted to the Banner Psychiatric Center for assessment, rather than being held for hours or days in the hospital until they can be seen by qualified professionals.
According to Pat Little-Upah, CEO for Banner Behavioral Health Hospital, the Banner Psychiatric Center is modeled after a highly successful center in Dallas, Texas, and will run in collaboration with the Urgent Psychiatric Center in downtown Phoenix. Patients at both centers will be medically supervised by psychiatrists with ConnectionsAZ.
"The Banner Psychiatric Center is desperately needed," Little-Upah said. “More and more, behavioral health patients are turning to hospital Emergency departments to seek help, but the majority of hospitals do not have trained psychiatric help available at all hours. The patients, who typically have no acute medical issues, often wait hours and sometimes days for a specialist to provide appropriate care or for a transfer to another facility. It’s inefficient and the patient is missing a level of care while he or she is waiting.”
Banner Health Emergency departments reported approximately 350 psychiatric holds per hospital in the West Valley and East Valley and more than 1,200 holds at larger hospitals in Phoenix and Mesa for 2009. The average hold time was approximately four hours, but some patients were held multiple days until a psychiatric bed was available.
“We are working to make the psychiatric care and treatment of patients more efficient in Maricopa County,” said Robert Williamson, MD, medical director for the Banner Psychiatric Center and ConnectionsAZ. “Approximately six months of the year, it’s almost impossible to get psychiatric services for someone who is in a crisis level of care because our system is so backed up. While patients are in the medical ERs they are not receiving any psychiatric care because the Emergency departments are not equipped to provide to them; this is creating a dangerous position for the hospitals and it is clogging the medical ERs so other patients cannot be seen in a timely manner.”
The Banner Psychiatric Center will function like a medical hospital’s Emergency department because that is the most efficient manner to deliver health care, according to Dr. Williamson. “When patients go to an ER, they see a doctor who assesses their condition and tries to stabilize them, and then either discharges them to an outpatient level of care or admits them into the hospital if there is a medical necessity,” Dr. Williamson said. “But there’s not a similar system set up for psychiatry at the medical facilities. That’s what we’re trying to do with the Banner Psychiatric Center.”
Patients arriving at a hospital Emergency department and are determined to be in psychiatric crisis, will be transferred to either the Banner Psychiatric Center or the Urgent Psychiatric Center, based on location and level of psychiatric crisis. The goal is to make the transfer from the hospital within an hour, either by ambulance or other secure transportation, and for the patient to be seen by a psychiatrist shortly after arrival.
Patients can remain in the Psychiatric Center for up to 24 hours during which time they will be assessed by a psychiatrist, receive appropriate medication and have a comprehensive discharge plan developed. The goal is to provide an environment of care for those individuals who are experiencing a behavioral health crisis but do not have medical issues.
“We are changing the model of behavioral health care for this group of people,” Little-Upah said. “It’s becoming increasingly more difficult to provide the needed services at a time when money is scarce at all levels and there are no new centers being created on a public scale.
“Banner Health has recognized the growing need for a psychiatric center to assist patients and streamline the patient flow from the hospital to the behavioral unit. We are working with other psychiatric facilities and local emergency responders in the East Valley and Phoenix metro area to identify the types of patients who can receive compassionate care in the most appropriate setting and be treated with the utmost respect to achieve the best possible outcome,” Little-Upah added.
About Banner Behavioral Health Hospital
Banner Behavioral Health Hospital is part of nonprofit Banner Health, the leading provider of health care services with 23 hospitals throughout the West. Located in Scottsdale, Ariz., Banner Behavioral Health offers a wide range of safe, confidential and compassionate treatments for adults, adolescent teens and children facing mental health and substance-abuse challenges. Our nonprofit services are conveniently located throughout the metropolitan Phoenix area for those who need help with psychiatric and addiction issues.
CONTACT:
Banner Health Public Relations
Nancy Neff, Director
(602) 747-3105
Craig Fischer
(602) 747-4447
Twitter: @BannerHealth
