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Michigan subcommittee hears human cost of psychiatric bed shortage
Summary
Physicians and hospital leaders told a House subcommittee that Michigan lacks psychiatric beds statewide, leaving families waiting in emergency rooms and rural regions especially underserved.
Members of the Michigan House Subcommittee on Public Health and Food Security heard detailed testimony about statewide shortages of psychiatric inpatient beds and the consequences for patients and families.
Dr. Kai Anderson, an associate director of psychiatry at Central Michigan University, told the subcommittee a single mother she identified as “Miss Jackson” waited three days in an emergency room with her 10‑year‑old son because no psychiatric bed was available. “She told me with tears in her eyes, ‘I fear like I am failing all of my kids,’” Anderson said.
The testimony placed the shortage in numbers and geography. Anderson said Michigan had 1,945 licensed psychiatric beds as of February 2022 —…
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