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Hospital operators urge Michigan to allow flexible psychiatric beds and fund EHR upgrades
Summary
Executives from Universal Health Services described expansion plans, asked the subcommittee to allow child/adolescent beds to be flexed to adults under certificate of need rules, and urged a state match program to bring electronic health records to freestanding psychiatric hospitals.
Representatives of freestanding psychiatric hospitals told the House subcommittee they are expanding capacity in Michigan but are constrained by licensing rules and by outdated record systems that complicate referrals and recruitment.
Steve Vernon, CEO of Cedar Creek Hospital in Saint John’s, and Jamie White, CEO of Havenwick Hospital in Auburn Hills, said they represent five freestanding behavioral‑health facilities in Michigan operated by Universal Health Services. Vernon described recent and planned projects including a 96‑bed hospital that opened the prior week, an additional 16 beds at Cedar Creek, and a planned 48‑bed Lansing facility with both adult and children’s beds.
Both leaders said one near‑term fix would be to change the certificate of need (CON) rules that currently permit licensed “flex beds” to move from adult to child/adolescent designations but not from child/adolescent to adult. “During the summer months we will have our child and adolescent units usually less than 50% capacity, all summer long, while our adult beds remain full,” Vernon said. He reported that between January and May of the current year his facilities deferred 4,626 adult referrals because of capacity limits.
The witnesses said existing facility layouts and licensure already allow operators to keep children and adults separated when needed, and that many hospitals have physical features to isolate units. They asked the committee to consider regulatory changes to allow short‑term flexing of beds to meet community need.
Vernon also urged a technology investment to address coordination and workforce challenges. He said many freestanding psychiatric hospitals in Michigan still use paper charts and that an electronic health record (EHR) match program — modeled on a proposal now moving through a Texas legislature (identified in testimony as House Bill 1621) — could help recruitment, improve bed‑registry reporting and speed care transitions. “It’s about a million dollars per hospital upfront to get these implemented,” Vernon said, citing the Texas proposal’s estimated per‑hospital cost and a $20 million statewide match as an example.
Ending: Committee members asked clarifying questions about the CON process and safety for flexing beds; no legislative action was taken at the hearing.
