Emergency Dept. report

MDLC received funding from the Jacob & Hilda Blaustein Foundation and the Leonard and Helen R. Stulman Charitable Foundation to undertake a two-year project to examine the use of emergency departments by individuals with a psychiatric diagnosis. We subcontracted with a national expert, Susan Stefan, J.D. of the Center for Public Representation (CPR) in Massachusetts to help with design and implementation.  Through surveys and focus groups, MDLC and CPR collected critical information from nearly 300 mental health consumers on the reasons they utilize the emergency department, the quality of treatment that they received, and what alternative supports and services could prevent a return visit.  We also interviewed key stakeholders in the mental health community about crisis services and collected data on the current crisis response system throughout the State.  Finally, we examined policies, procedures and data from three Baltimore-area emergency departments. 

For Phase one of the project, MDLC and CPR culled information specific to the three participating hospitals and presented confidential reports with our findings and recommendations to improve the quality of care.  For Phase two, we drafted a report detailing our overall findings and recommendations to increase diversion of mental consumers from emergency departments to effective and less costly community services and supports and to improve the quality of care in all Maryland emergency departments. We are currently working with stakeholders in the mental health community to identify concrete next steps that we can collectively take to implement our recommendations.

Contact MDLC at 410-727-6352 ext. 0 to order a copy of “Maryland Citizens in Psychiatric Crisis: A Report.”