LAS VEGAS -- More hospital beds are ahead for psychiatric patients in Las Vegas, after federal officials approved the governor's request to double the Medicaid reimbursement rate for mental health treatment, officials said Thursday.
Gov. Brian Sandoval had asked federal officials to let the state hike the Medicaid reimbursement from $460 a day to $944 a day. With the approval on Wednesday, Valley Hospital said it will add a 48-bed behavioral health unit by December.
"This substantial increase in the Medicaid reimbursement rate will help relieve pressure from emergency rooms and state facilities and most importantly, guarantee more resources for those who are in need of care," Sandoval Chief of Staff Mike Willden said in a statement.
Valley Hospital spokeswoman Gretchen Papez called the reimbursement rate increase crucial to her hospital's ability to open a psychiatric care unit.
Willden noted the reimbursement increase was among recommendations from the Behavioral Health and Wellness Council, an 18-member panel that Sandoval appointed last December to review patient-dumping complaints stemming from reports that patients at the state's Rawson-Neal Psychiatric Hospital in Las Vegas were given one-way bus tickets to California and other states.
Medicare reimbursements are handled separately by the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
The increase is also expected to relieve crowding at other hospitals that complain that mentally ill patients clog emergency room facilities.
Rawson-Neal is the only state adult psychiatric hospital in southern Nevada, a region home to about 2 million people. It opened in 2006 with 190 beds. The facility now has 211 beds.
Dr. Tracey Green, Nevada state medical chief, told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that there were 110 patients on Wednesday at Las Vegas-area hospitals awaiting mental illness treatment.
Green aide Mac Bybee didn't immediately respond Thursday to messages from The Associated Press.
Green told the newspaper the new reimbursement rate would apply to acute medical hospitals with psychiatric units.
Willden said Thursday that rates paid to free-standing psychiatric facilities with 16 beds or fewer are negotiated separately.
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