S.C. to award $35M in grants for behavioral health care

CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCSC) - The South Carolina Department of Health and Human Services has announced a $35 million grant program for hospitals within the state that will expand access to crisis stabilization services.

The grants would help hospitals build specialized departments for emergency behavioral health services.

The South Carolina Department of Health and Human Services said over the past few years South Carolina has seen an increase in the number of people using emergency rooms to address behavioral health crises, whether that be substance or mental health.

They said they have been looking closely at their behavioral health delivery system in the state and have seen it is fragmented.

The agency said they have made efforts over the past year at the start of the school year last year after they’d heard from the MUSC pediatric emergency room that they were seeing six child patients a day for behavioral health needs.

They said they had partnered with the department of education in the last year in an effort to improve mental health counseling for students. The department found that children are seven times more likely to access a behavioral health service if it is in their school than if they are outside of school.

SCDHHS Director of Communications and Public Relations Jeff Leiritz said the state is trying to facilitate a process within the emergency department that keeps emergency rooms open for patients experiencing acute illness and trauma. He said their overall goal is to have a triage center where patients can be stabilized within 24 hours so they can receive proper care for the first “critical” 72 hours that have behavioral or mental health resources attached to it.

“Emergency room is the most expensive place to treat somebody we want to make sure we are using emergency rooms for incidents that require that level of care,” Leiritz said. “But we also want to make sure if someone is in a behavioral health crisis we are able to appropriately triage them and link them to the right step-down type of care. "

Roper St. Francis Hospital Psychiatrist Dr. Sarah Coker said this grant will change the traditional process of in-patient behavioral care making it a quicker process for patients who are waiting for a hospital bed.

“So if this grant goes to building more crisis stabilization type units where maybe it’s a mix of observation, they’re not sitting in an ER, they’re still getting adequate attention care,” Coker said. “But also not waiting for a bed at a psychiatric hospital that can provide more access more resources, better care.”

The South Carolina Department of Health and Human Services said their goal is to have grant decisions for hospitals selected by June. They said they have not set a limit for funding being dispersed to chosen hospitals.