Monday, October 18, 2010
Presbyterian Hospital submitted a certificate of need (CON) on October 15 to expand inpatient behavioral health services at its uptown facility. The CON will add an additional 15 inpatient behavioral health beds, raising the hospital’s total number of behavioral health beds to 75.
The certificate of need includes a memorandum of agreement between the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, Mecklenburg County Area Mental Health and Presbyterian Hospital and outlines collaborative support for the project. The new beds will be attained through a transfer of state approved beds currently out of operation at Broughton Hospital, a psychiatric facility located in Morganton, NC that is operated by the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services.
“This CON application is an excellent opportunity for the community to come together to increase capacity for behavioral health patients in need of inpatient treatment,” said Bruce Melosh, director of behavioral health services for Presbyterian Hospital. “The transfer of beds from Broughton Hospital to Mecklenburg county will ensure better access to care locally and will reduce the transfer of patients to alternate hospitals miles away from their family members and support systems.”
The CON application will help to address some of the recent challenges in patient access to care in Charlotte. Currently, patients in need of inpatient behavioral health treatment often are required to wait 24-48 hours or longer in local emergency rooms for an inpatient behavioral health bed to become available.
It is believed that the state will issue its decision on the CON by the last week of January 2011. If the project is approved, the state will issue the certificate of need by the first week of March 2011, serving as a “permission slip” for Presbyterian to begin the expansion project.
For more information about behavioral health services at Presbyterian, visit www.presbyterian.org or call 704-384-CARE (2273).
