Oakland County diverts mental health patients to ERs amid crisis center takeover

By Eli Newman, Bridge Michigan

Psychological well being advocates are involved {that a} disaster care transition in Oakland County will trigger main disruptions to providers for adults in psychological emergencies.

Oakland Group Well being Community (OCHN), which operates a community of behavioral well being suppliers serving roughly 30,000 county residents, notified native regulation enforcement final month requesting that “people in disaster be directed to native emergency departments” as a substitute of being admitted to the county’s Useful resource and Disaster Middle in Pontiac.

Using the Emergency Room to look after psychiatric sufferers in disaster conditions is a controversial follow generally known as “psychiatric boarding.”

The choice pushes again Oakland County’s timeline to totally soak up grownup psychological well being providers because it turns away from outsourcing a few of that work. Till not too long ago, a nonprofit group, Frequent Floor, operated a 24/7 residential disaster heart in Pontiac that served all of Oakland County.

Oakland Group Well being Community took over accountability for the Pontiac Useful resource and Disaster Middle in late January, following the acrimonious finish of the county’s relationship with Frequent Floor.

Some operations on the heart are quickly halted, leaving Oakland County unable to accommodate severe psychological well being instances introduced in by police for disaster stabilization, in addition to administer the middle’s short-term, voluntary disaster residential program that serves as an alternative choice to inpatient psychiatric hospitalization.

Officers say 9 people receiving care on the heart have been discharged on Jan. 29, when OCHN assumed accountability for all grownup disaster providers.

“We don’t have the complete workforce essential to soundly function that unit,” OCHN Chief Working Officer Trisha Zizumbo instructed Bridge Michigan.

Executives on the authorities company estimate they should fill about 50 extra positions earlier than regular operations can resume, after hiring about 100 workers in the course of the transition, most of them from Frequent Floor.

Dana Lasenby, CEO of OCHN, mentioned the company is awaiting a state allow to function its housing disaster program, and that there are “contingencies which can be working” that may permit the location to proceed offering 24/7 walk-in disaster providers and different types of help.

Pontiac Normal Hospital and different native emergency departments are getting used as assets, Lasenby mentioned. Pontiac Normal itself faces a precarious future after declaring chapter and being faraway from Medicare in 2024.

She estimates that the Pontiac Useful resource and Disaster Middle can have “every thing up and operating” by April 1.

“It was not our very best to discontinue these providers from the earlier provider within the method during which they have been achieved or in the time-frame during which they have been achieved,” Lasenby instructed Bridge.

Frequent Floor, which has offered behavioral well being providers in Oakland County for greater than 50 years, ended grownup disaster providers on the Pontiac heart final month citing a contract dispute.

Whereas OCHN management says the nonprofit has been overpaid for its work, Frequent Floor CEO Heather Rae says the federal government company has did not make tons of of 1000’s of {dollars} in funds, leaving her group with an “unsustainable monetary deficit.”

The break up occurred over a number of months as OCHN introduced its intention to incorporate extra disaster providers amid a altering psychological well being panorama in Michigan.

“It is undoubtedly an issue,” Rae instructed Bridge. “For a really very long time, it was the one complete disaster heart within the state.”

In response to Rae, Frequent Floor served 1,300 individuals dropped off by police on the Pontiac Useful resource and Disaster Middle in 2025, whereas about 8,000 individuals visited the location yearly.

The Oakland County Sheriff’s Workplace didn’t reply to Bridge’s request for remark.

‘Unfair and impractical’ resolution

Psychological well being advocates say they’re involved in regards to the “problematic transition” occurring in Oakland County and the “pointless confusion” it would trigger the neighborhood, regulation enforcement and hospitals.

“Not like hospital emergency departments, disaster facilities are particularly designed and staffed with skilled professionals to assist individuals in disaster,” Marianne Huff, president and CEO of the Psychological Well being Affiliation of Michigan, mentioned in an announcement.

“It’s unfair and impractical to anticipate hospital emergency departments to be keen to imagine accountability for an unknown variety of extra people dropped at hospitals by regulation enforcement.”

Huff instructed members of the OCHN board Tuesday that the company’s actions are having a “chilling impact” on the statewide community of suppliers navigating the altering dynamics with their neighborhood psychological well being providers.

Advocates of disaster care argue that designated services with specialised employees who can help with psychological well being emergencies are more cost effective than shifting these obligations to others whereas people stay near their help methods.

Michigan hospital leaders say they’re “hopeful” that neighborhood psychological well being services like OCHN will convey providers again on-line quickly.

“The neighborhood psychological well being system is designed to help disaster response for sufferers with behavioral well being wants,” Lauren LaPine-Ray, vice chairman of coverage and rural well being on the Michigan Well being and Hospital Affiliation, mentioned in an electronic mail. “When these providers are taken offline and emergency departments are used for psychological well being sufferers, capability for medical emergencies is restricted.”

‘Disturbing’ adjustments for the police

The pause in disaster care providers returns Oakland County to a baseline degree that many in Michigan are experiencing.

In response to James Tignanelli, president of the Police Officers Affiliation of Michigan, most counties don’t have a disaster care facility that regulation enforcement can use.

That lack of assets could be “troubling” for regulation enforcement personnel, Tignanelli mentioned, as a result of officers should spend hours counseling individuals in psychological well being crises whereas they watch for therapy, taking them away from their major duties and private lives. He mentioned departments are sometimes required to supply necessary additional time to cowl staffing shortages attributable to elevated time spent in hospitals.

“It actually requires numerous manpower, and it is not a scenario that is simple to safe,” Tignanelli instructed Bridge. “In the end it is our job, however it’s not one thing we’re actually educated to do.”

Daniel Pfannes, deputy director of the Michigan Sheriffs’ Affiliation, mentioned a “staggering” variety of inmates are taking psychotropic medicines. He mentioned “pre-arrest assets,” corresponding to psychological well being providers, may also help preserve them out of the prison justice system.

“If regulation enforcement would not have these choices obtainable to them, that particular person goes to go to jail,” Pfannes mentioned. “We’re presently storing too many individuals who eat psychological well being care within the jail methods.”

This story was initially printed by Bridge Michigan (bridgemi.com), a nonprofit and nonpartisan information group. To obtain common notices from Bridge Michigan, join a free Bridge Michigan publication here .