As of Friday, a new measure requires hospitals in Massachusetts to grant mental health patients time outdoors everyday, STAT reports.
The "Fresh Air" rules have some hospitals, including Boston-based Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, planning to build open-air spaces to ensure patients can safely achieve their outdoor time, a BIDMC spokesperson told STAT. However, about one third of Massachusetts hospitals that provide psychiatric care are seeking waivers to the "Fresh Air" rules, arguing they do not have enough secure space for it.
One individual who had a two-week psychiatric inpatient stay at BIDMC told STAT he thinks having access to the outdoors would have cut his stay in half. In some cases, hospitals have argued that since psychiatric stays are shorter overall than they once were, the outdoor time isn't necessary, according to Boston.com. Still, more than a dozen states have enacted laws similar to Massachusetts' "Fresh Air" rules, an attorney told STAT.
The rules do not require hospitals to let patients go outside on demand, but may do so at regularly scheduled times, and open-air time can change depending on weather, medical condition or patient status. Jeff Huffman, MD, director of cardiac psychiatry at Massachusetts GeneralHospital in Boston, told STAT his organization plans to seek exemption from the new rule due to safety reasons — the hospital is in a high traffic area. But, the hospital has put a lot of work into developing alternative programs to enhance the patient experience, including natural light and exercise areas, he said.
Hospitals such as Boston Children's and Brigham and Women's already have programs in place that would comply with the "Fresh Air" rules for patients who are not a danger to themselves or others, and they report good success with the outdoor time, according to STAT.