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Community mental health leaders tell lawmakers bed shortages stem from complex discharge and staffing problems, not just bed counts
Summary
Leaders from Riverwood Center and Bay Arenac Behavioral Health told the House oversight subcommittee that inpatient‑care challenges reflect staffing, patient acuity and discharge barriers, and urged renewed bed‑registration, crisis stabilization funding and improved care transitions.
Rick Compton, CEO of Riverwood Center (Berrien Mental Health Authority), and Chris Pinter, CEO of Bay Arenac Behavioral Health, testified to the House Oversight Subcommittee that inpatient psychiatric capacity issues reflect more than an absolute count of beds — they said staffing, patient acuity, protective‑custody admissions and lack of step‑down placements are central barriers.
Compton described Riverwood’s local system and said the community mental health center provides crisis lines, a behavioral‑health urgent care, mobile crisis teams and hospital prescreening. “There is no one solution,” he told the subcommittee, and he…
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