Boston.com: Maine lawmakers seek solution for psych hospital

By Alanna Durkin

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AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) — Gov. Paul LePage’s administration told Maine lawmakers they should act on a proposal to build a mental health wing at the state prison as possible budget cuts loom for the state-run psychiatric hospital but lawmakers said Thursday they first want to hear suggestions from experts about how to save the hospital’s funding.

The Appropriations Committee met to discuss the situation at Riverview Psychiatric Center, a 92-bed facility in Augusta that Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has threatened to cut $20 million in federal funding from by Sept. 2 due to several issues, including overcrowding and understaffing.

More than half the hospital’s beds are currently occupied by patients sent there by court order or from jail, Department of Health and Human Services Commissioner Mary Mayhew told the committee. But because it’s not a prison, Riverview doesn’t have the security or protocols to deal with those patients, Republican the LePage administration says.

The federal government has cited concerns about the hospitals use of correctional officers, hired to deal with the growing number of patients attacking hospital staff, Mayhew said. Federal regulators said in a recently released report that they had problems with the way the patients being subdued with stun guns and handcuffs.

The center has submitted a proposal to the federal government to de-certify some of the beds — or make them ineligible for Medicaid or Medicare reimbursements — which would allow the center to maintain federal funding.

But Mayhew said that’s only a short-term solution and urged lawmakers to take action on a bill held over from last session to create a mental health wing within the Maine State Prison to help cut down on overcrowding at the facility.

‘‘Ultimately, establishing a unit at the Maine state prison would offer a long-term, sustainable solution that would improve the safety and patients and visitors for the Riverview Psychiatric Center,’’ she said.

But the bill comes with a $3 million dollar-a-year price tag and some contend that it may only be part of the answer for crisis facing the center.

Former Maine Supreme Court Chief Justice Daniel Wathen, who monitors the facility’s compliance with a 1990 court order, said but he doesn’t think the bill will address many of the federal government’s current concerns with the hospital.

Lawmakers said they support the governor’s bill to create the state prison mental health wing, but did not move the bill forward Thursday.

Instead, they said they will bring together a stakeholder group, including officials from Department of Health and Human Services and Department of Corrections, to see if anything needs to be added to or changed before they return next Thursday for a special session.