The proposed sale of Provo-based Utah State Hospital will not be going through after Utah Rep. Tyler Clancy revised his proposal that would have allowed the hospital's sale to aid funding for new state hospitals and mental health services.
In a unanimous legislator approval, substitute bill HB299 features no mention of the hospital's proposed sale.
"The idea for the sale of the state hospital was to build three more," Mr. Clancy told Becker's. "Industry standard for forensic beds for mental health treatment is 30 beds per 10,000 people. In Utah, [we have] about 10. The idea was that we would move to that scatter site model, increase our capacity, and help accessibility for Southern, Central, Northern Utah."
However, when the initial bill went public, Mr. Clancy said the feedback was that while it was not a bad idea, it needed more time.
"For the sake of the rest of the bill, which I really felt passionate about, was to take that piece out," Mr. Clancy said.
The substitute bill instead would require the Utah Substance Use and Mental Health Advisory Council to study issues related to civil commitment, a process in which an individual with severe mental illness symptoms is court-ordered into an inpatient hospital or outpatient community treatment.
"Right now, Utah is the lower echelon for pink sheets or involuntary emergency commitments," Mr. Clancy said. "We're moving from 24 hours to 72 hours if this bill passes. Seventy-two hours is right in the middle of, state-by-state, how long someone can be held at the hospital while they're being examined by professionals."
Regarding the status of the hospital sale, Mr. Clancy said that won't be addressed further in this session.
While the hospital will continue to serve the state as it's done for more than 100 years, the Utah Behavioral Health Assessment and Master Plan released by the Salt Lake City-based University of Utah indicates that additional mental health resources are needed.
"We are open to studying the best methods for improving mental health resources and are willing to engage with the rest of the mental health community in a review of current services to analyze the costs and benefits of providing a high-quality mental health continuum of services to meet the needs of Utahns," a spokesperson for the Utah Department of Health and Human Services said in a statement shared with Becker's. "This continuum includes the potential construction of a long-term step-down facility that could help address the anticipated demand that will come from Utah's growing population."
The bill will now move to the House floor for a full vote.