er boarding

Since May 2023, the state has been working to comply with a court order requiring it to end so-called “ER boarding.”

“We are hitting the gas more than we really ever have, on any issue, when it comes to this effort,” said Morissa Henn, a top official with the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services.

Policía de UNH investiga graffiti que acusa a la universidad de ser complicita en conflicto Israel-Hamas. Los votantes de NH tienen hasta el 4 de junio para cambiar su afiliación de partido. El estado pide más tiempo para terminar con la práctica de ER boarding.

Expanding transitional housing is among the Department of Health and Human Services’ “Mission Zero” initiatives to address the state’s mental health crisis and eliminate long emergency room waits.

The fight over how people seeking to be released from in-patient mental health facilities in New Hampshire should get to address a judge is the latest flashpoint in a five-year long legal battle.

State health officials outlined in more detail how they plan to eliminate waitlists for inpatient mental health care, as they face a court-imposed deadline of May 2024.

State attorneys previously argued they would need up to two years to stop the practice, citing labor shortages and other challenges.

The competing proposals come in response to a federal judge’s ruling that New Hampshire must stop holding patients in mental health crises in ERs for prolonged periods.

Emergency room boarding is the longstanding state practice of housing mental health patients, sometimes for weeks, in hospital emergency rooms due to a lack of psychiatric treatment beds.

The state says workforce shortages are impeding its efforts to fix the issue.