The Boston Globe had an interesting article last week on the rise of inpatient psychiatric beds in Massachusetts and the problem hospitals are having in recruiting psychiatrists to staff them.
The August 8 article – State sees boom in number of psychiatric beds – noted that Massachusetts has added 531 new inpatient psychiatric beds since 2009, including the construction of three new psych hospitals.
MHA’s Behavioral Health: Unfinished Agenda of Reform (BHUAR) initiative (see previous story) determined that workforce shortages in the behavioral health field is a major concern. One of BHUAR’s three pillars calls on stakeholders to work towards boosting the workforce to meet the needs of an integrated behavioral health system to provide high-quality, accessible behavioral health services across the full continuum of inpatient and community-based care to reflects the diversity of those requiring care, and to support the system’s ability to deliver services to those needing them in the commonwealth.