Advocates want fewer patients at Western State during pandemic; state says effort underway
Patient advocates have asked the state to reduce the number of patients at the Washington’s inpatient psychiatric hospitals in response to the coronavirus pandemic, and the state said it plans to.
“The usual procedures to discharge patients have long-resulted in lengthy waitlists of patients waiting to get out,” Disability Rights Washington and other advocacy groups wrote the state Department of Social and Health Services on Thursday about Western State Hospital in Lakewood and Eastern State Hospital near Spokane.
“It is therefore imperative to undertake non-traditional methods to reduce the population of both hospitals right away in order to most effectively protect staff and patients from COVID-19.”
The Associated Press reported Friday that the state plans to release up to 60 patients who are civilly committed to Western State, which has 850 beds, in response to staffing shortages that have been exacerbated by the pandemic. There will be an effort during the next week to discharge or transfer those patients to “state-funded residential settings,” the AP reported.
Western State had 157 patients from Pierce County, 57 from Thurston, 34 from Whatcom and one from Benton County as of Friday.
Seventeen staff members and six patients have tested positive at Western State, and one patient died, DSHS’s website reported Friday.
Sean Murphy, the assistant secretary for DSHS’s Behavioral Health Administration, told The News Tribune Friday that the agency starts the discharge planning process when a patient arrives at the hospital and that it looks for patient stability and recovery throughout their treatment.
“We are looking for folks that are eligible for discharge right now, and we are certainly pulling folks together to see if we can remove barriers to discharge,” Murphy said.
In addition to patients who are discharged home to friends and family, he said, some are transferred to assisted living homes or other facilities.
“Nobody will be discharged at all without having an adequate supply of the services that they need to help them be successful,” Murphy said.
He noted Gov. Jay Inslee’s commitment in recent years to transitioning civil commitment patients from the state psychiatric hospitals to community beds.
“We are definitely in full swing to try to realize the governor’s vision,” Murphy said. “... This particular situation here has magnified our need to do such a thing.”
Kim Mosolf, the director of Disability Rights Washington’s Treatment Facilities program, said Friday: “I think there are folks who are in the hospital now who have friends and family who are willing to take them. Especially under the circumstances. ... These folks have family and friends who love them and who are worried about them for good reason.”
The letter from Disability Rights Washington was signed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Washington, the Washington Defender Association, the Washington Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and Columbia Legal Services.
The patient advocates wrote they “applaud” efforts the state is already taking to keep patients and staff at the hospitals healthy and safe.
“For example, we understand that Washington recently sought a Medicaid 1115 waiver to establish a COVID-19 Disaster Relief Fund that would provide temporary shelter for people awaiting discharge from institutional care,” the letter said. “This could present valuable options to quickly house WSH and ESH patients who have already been waiting for discharge for some time.”
Social distancing is difficult at the hospitals, the advocates said.
“Both hospitals should identify civil patients who may be successfully moved into another space for at least one month, with the possibility of continuance,” the letter said. “This could include temporary releases to family, friends or other facilities procured by the state for this purpose.”
The hospital should also furlough certain patients who are at the hospital because they pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity, the advocates argue.
“WSH and ESH should immediately review NGRI patients who already have been granted conditional release status by a court and grant furlough to those who can safely reside with family, friends or in other appropriate arrangements that do not present the same risk of COVID-19 infection as WSH and ESH,” the letter said. “DSHS should also undertake review of NGRI patients who are on the verge of conditional release and fast track recommendations to achieve conditional release for those patients.”
Emergency funding and flexibility from Medicaid waivers should be prioritized for moving patients safely out of institutions, the letter said.
“We are requesting that DSHS be aggressive and creative in reducing the patient population at WSH and ESH, but we are not advocating release to homelessness or otherwise dangerous situations,” the advocates wrote. “We recognize that patients often benefit from ongoing treatment and support once released from the hospital and that this is in short supply at the moment.”
This story was originally published April 5, 2020 at 7:00 AM.
