Officials from the New Mexico Behavioral Health Institute updated the Legislative Health and Human Services Committee on capacity, clinical outcomes and construction projects, and detailed steps to implement House Bill 8, the state’s recent competency restoration legislation.

Tim Shields, hospital administrator, and other NMBHI leaders reported increases in the hospital’s daily census over the last three fiscal years, with adult psychiatric and forensic divisions operating at higher occupancy. Shields said operational beds are full on the adult psychiatric side and the forensic census has also increased; the hospital is preparing to expand capacity because the competency‑related law could increase civil‑commitment referrals.

Shields described construction of a new forensic building intended to meet modern safety and accessibility standards. The current forensic facility, built in 1972, contains ligature and ADA issues that cannot be fully addressed by renovation; construction began this spring and the hospital’s target for substantial completion is 2027. Shields told the committee that Joint Commission accreditation is tied to the project schedule and that continued state funding will be required to avoid interruptions to construction and potential accreditation complications.

On clinical performance, Shields said the hospital has one of the lower rates of seclusion among comparable state hospitals and cited restoration‑to‑competency rates above national averages for patients admitted for competence restoration services. “On average, the rate that we do competence restoration, we are restoring the competency,” he said; he reported restoration in roughly three‑quarters to four‑fifths of restoration cases, noting the hospital uses an interdisciplinary, medication‑and‑education approach that pairs psychiatric treatment with “courtroom knowledge” groups and other targeted interventions.

House Bill 8 (competency and civil commitment changes) went into effect June 20, and NMBHI staff described operational changes required by the law. The bill requires evaluation for civil commitment at several points in the competency process, created an outpatient restoration pathway for some non‑dangerous felonies and aligned certain lists of crimes across mental‑health and developmental‑disability commitments. Hospital leaders said they are preparing two existing cottages and other campus spaces to absorb an expected increase in civil‑commitment evaluations and potential admissions.

The Institute also described a planned psychiatric residency in partnership with the University of New Mexico and the New Mexico Primary Care Training Consortium. Nicole Mandel, CEO of the consortium, said an academic affiliation will permit required specialty rotations and that financing remains a regulatory and payment challenge: Medicaid and Medicare indirect medical education payments are typically routed through DRG hospitals, and the current payment language excludes independent psychiatric hospitals from that revenue stream. The presenters said state regulatory change or a dedicated state funding mechanism would be needed to make the residency financially sustainable.

Separately, NMBHI described a county‑run substance use treatment facility on the hospital campus that the Institute will operate. The facility will offer medical detox and a 28–30 day residential treatment program with referral pathways back into community outpatient care; Shields said staffing and licensing steps are in progress and that the facility should be ready to receive patients in the coming months if accreditation visits and licensing timelines align.

Hospital leaders requested continued legislative support for construction and workforce investments. They said the most pressing workforce need is entry‑level direct‑care staff (formerly called psych techs), and they described recent wage increases, shift differentials and recruitment steps intended to stabilize hiring. No committee action was taken; members indicated support for additional funding and asked staff to coordinate with the Department of Health and other agencies on implementation details.