(Host) The state is working with the Rutland Regional Medical Center on a new facility to care for mentally ill patients.
The expansion of mental health services in Rutland is part of a plan to phase out the state hospital in Waterbury.
VPR’s John Dillon reports:
(Dillon) For years, the state has been under pressure to find a replacement for the state-run mental health institution in Waterbury.
A critical report last month by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services added urgency to the issue. The federal inspectors found problems in record keeping and with the hospital’s physical plant. As a result, the state will not get $7 million in federal funds for this year’s budget.
The state hospital in Waterbury now has a daily patient population of around 45 people. The state plans to keep 15 beds in Waterbury in a secure residential facility. So officials are hopeful that the Rutland Regional Medical Center will provide part of the solution as the state hospital is phased out.
Michael Hartman is state mental health commissioner. He says the tentative plan calls for a new 25-bed unit in Rutland.
(Hartmann) "And what we found very rapidly is that we moved past the discussion about how to run a program like this and quickly into, `So how would we actually build this, cost it out, pay for operations,’ – those kinds of pieces."
(Dillon) Thomas Huebner is the president of the Rutland medical center. He says the new unit could cost around $25 million, so the hospital needs assurance that it will have the money to pay for it in the years ahead.
(Huebner) "We see this as a partnership with the state. Even though it would be operated by us and under our license, we see ourselves as helping the state to create a solution for the state hospital. And we’d only do it if we believe that we and the state were entirely in accord. It requires their financial support as well as what we can bring to the table."
(Dillon) Both officials said the negotiations are going well. Mental Health Commissioner Hartmann said he hopes to have more details to present to the Legislature in January. Once the plans are finalized it could be another 18 to 36 months before the facility is operating.
For VPR News, I’m John Dillon in Montpelier.