Mat-Su Regional applies for Behavioral Health Certificate of Need

7/10/2017

Mat-Su Regional is in the planning phase of a significant hospital expansion that will take place over the next five years. This includes construction of a new medical office building on campus, finishing the hospital’s third floor with additional beds, adding behavioral health services, and expanding other services to allow the hospital to meet the needs of the Mat-Su Borough for years to come.

I am pleased to announce that our hospital took a major step in achieving this goal on June 27 by submitting an application to the State of Alaska for a certificate of need to add 36 inpatient behavioral health beds for adult psychiatric services and adult substance abuse services. The proposed project will serve both voluntary admissions and involuntary commitments under Title 47 of the Alaska Statutes.

The Mat-Su Borough is in desperate need of these services. Just a few weeks ago, nine patients in our emergency department needed inpatient behavioral health care. There was nowhere to send them because Alaska Psychiatric Institute was at full capacity and could not receive admissions.

I wish this was an isolated event. Unfortunately, it is becoming the norm. It is as though a “No Vacancy” sign has been turned on in our community regarding behavioral health issues. We are on track to require more than 1,100 behavioral health assessments in 2017 for patients in crisis. To put this in perspective, the total assessments conducted just three years ago was 349.

Coinciding with this crisis, the Mat-Su Borough has been rocked by the opioid abuse epidemic, and our communities continue to suffer because there are no higher level inpatient substance abuse services available.

Mat-Su Regional’s behavioral health project gives us the opportunity to work with the many dedicated community providers to offer a continuum-of-care for behavioral health services so patients in crisis— our family, our friends, our neighbors—can receive the care they need.

We will be meeting stakeholders in the coming months to describe the project and enlist your support in voicing our needs to the State of Alaska Certificate of Need Program. I look forward to working with you to ensure that the Mat-Su Borough has the quality healthcare it depends on us to provide.

Sincerely,
Dave Wallace
CEO

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