The California Hospital Association and dozens of hospitals are calling on Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration to provide at least $275 million for Medi-Cal inpatient psychiatric services.
The request, made in an Oct. 20 letter to the administration, comes as California faces a shortage of approximately 3,800 psychiatric beds needed to treat children and adults experiencing behavioral health crises, according to an Oct. 21 news release shared with Becker’s.
The association attributed the shortage to chronic underfunding, workforce shortages and insufficient reimbursement rates.
The association also raised concerns about emergency staffing ratio regulations for psychiatric hospitals, which it said have increased costs by more than $275 million, roughly the amount hospitals are now requesting, and reduced psychiatric bed capacity by 15% across Kern, Contra Costa, Madera and San Diego counties.
Hospitals are seeking higher Medi-Cal reimbursement rates to preserve existing psychiatric beds, improve staffing and increase treatment capacity. They are asking the state to use Behavioral Health Facility Throughput resources tied to Proposition 35, a voter-approved 2024 measure that taxes managed care organizations to fund healthcare services.
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