Proposed legislation aims to change policy on mental health holds

BOISE — Legislation was pitched Monday before the House Health and Welfare Committee to streamline the release of mentally incompetent individuals who have been committed to a health care facility.

Ross Edmunds, of the Department of Health and Welfare’s Division of Behavioral Health, explained to the committee members that under current statute, the court must be notified 30 days prior to a committed person’s release. The proposed legislation would request that notice be reduced to seven days in advance.

Edmunds explained that when a person is declared mentally competent after treatment, they no longer need to be housed in an inpatient facility. Because those people are now deemed competent, they should not be forced to stay for another 30 days when it is not needed.

A person who is committed is stripped of their rights to make medical decisions while incompetent and becomes the responsibility of the state. But once they regain competency they should also be given back their ability to make decisions on their own behalf, Edmunds said.

Reducing the notification time will also save the state money.

The daily cost for a patient in a state hospital bed is around $500 a day, and the daily cost at a local hospital is around $800-$1,200 a day, depending on the facility.

So if a patient was forced to stay the extra 30 days at a state hospital, it costs $15,000. Or, it costs the state about $24,000-$36,000 if the patient is forced to stay at a local hospital.

Those patients being held an unnecessary extra 30 days also takes up a bed in the hospital that could be used for a person who clinically needs it.

The committee agreed to move the legislation forward for a first read in the House.

Idaho Statehouse in Boise.

Adam Eschbach/IPT