Facing the shutdown of Oceanside, Calif.-based Tri-City Medical Center's psychiatric units, healthcare leaders in San Diego County are warning that dwindling access to such services in the areasoon could become a crisis, according to The San Diego Union-Tribune.
In 1995, there were 29.5 psychiatric beds per every 100,000 people in California, but by 2015 that number was down to 16.9 beds. The California Health Association recommends there be 50 psychiatric beds per 100,000 people.
"We are still meeting the need right now, but thinking about the near future a few years out, this is very concerning and potentially of crisis proportion in terms of our access to psychiatric emergency services," Nick Macchione, director of the San Diego County's Health and Human Services Agency, told The San Diego Union-Tribune.
Expansion of psychiatric facilities has been slowed by federal and state regulations. California requires all hospitals and health systems to update their facilities in order to comply with standards to improve earthquake resistance, which requires shuttering their oldest buildings, which often house psychiatric units.
Chris Van Gorder, CEO of San Diego-based Scripps Health, said providers cannot house psychiatric units in new buildings because the services cannot earn enough to justify the investment.
“Hospitals cannot operate large programs that lose money year after year and then be expected to rebuild and comply with expensive regulations [albeit well-intended] and lose even more money," Mr. Van Gorder told The San Diego Union-Tribune.