UMass Memorial plans psych unit closures
UMass Memorial Health Care on Wednesday said it has notified the state of plans to reduce the number of beds in its 28-bed inpatient acute psychiatric unit on the University campus in Worcester, clearing the way for additional medical-surgical beds in the hospital’s 8 East unit.
The planned closures, which are subject to the review of the Department of Public Health and the Department of Mental Health, would coincide with a renovation of 8 East, according to a statement from UMass Memorial spokesman Anthony Berry. If approved, construction would begin in July but no changes will take place until then. The project would last about a year, Berry said.
Berry said additional medical-surgical beds are needed to serve the growing needs of the community. A certain number of psychiatric beds will be maintained for patients with the most complex behavioral health needs, said Berry, but an exact figure wasn’t available by deadline Wednesday.
“We will be working closely with new psychiatric facilities that are opening in the region to assure that the needs of our behavioral health patients are being met,” Berry wrote.
Southbridge-based Harrington HealthCare last month began accepting patients at its new inpatient behavioral health unit in Webster, and Heywood Healthcare of Gardner is planning to open the first phase of an inpatient substance abuse program at The Quabbin Retreat Center in Petersham in the fall.
A shortage of behavioral health services, including mental health treatment and addiction recovery, in the region remains. Inpatient psychiatric services can be difficult for providers to maintain because insurance reimbursements for those services is generally lower than reimbursements for other types of inpatient hospital stays.
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