APA Proposes New Model to Address Psychiatric Bed Crisis in the US

Geriatric psychiatrist Dr. Robert Kohn treats older patients with different intellectual and developmental disorders. Robert Kohn, MD has traveled to many countries as a researcher, scholarship grantee, and temporary advisor for the World Health Organization. Most of his studies abroad focused on psychiatric epidemiology, cultural psychiatry, and global mental health. Dr. Robert Kohn maintains his membership in the American Psychiatric Association (APA) where he is also a distinguished Fellow.

APA is a premier psychiatric association established to promote equitable access to the best available healthcare for all people with mental disorders and substance disorders. To further the rights and interests of patients in this regard, APA created the Presidential Task Force on Assessment of Psychiatric Bed Needs in the US in 2020 to assess the country’s growing psychiatric bed crisis.

In 2022, the Task Force completed its mission. Their report, entitled “Psychiatric Bed Acess in the US: Understanding the Problem and Moving Toward Solution,” was presented at the APA 2022 Annual Meeting in May. The report said that access to psychiatric beds has significantly declined in the past six decades. There is a notable absence of effective means, even at the community level, to measure how many beds are needed to meet the demands. Because of the lack of psychiatric inpatient beds, most patients are boarding in emergency rooms if not discharged prematurely. The social impacts of this crisis include homelessness and even incarceration.

To solve the problem, the Task Force proposes a new model for estimating the needs, including a means to inform community leaders and policymakers about appropriate capacity build-up. The model specified separate approaches for children and adolescents and adults. The model applies even to hypothetical “Anytown, US.”

The University of Michigan is the first to test the new model in its community. Led by the University’s Psychiatry Department, data are now being collected to be fed into the APA model. The University is optimistic that the APA model can help its community and the nation to address the lingering psychiatric bed crisis in the US.

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