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Scaled Down Mental Hospital OK'D -- $26.8 Million Project With 111 Beds Will Save State $1.5 Million a Year

Posted on: Friday, 30 September 2005, 12:01 CDT

NASHVILLE - Memphis Mental Health Institute, the state's 135-bed psychiatric hospital at 865 Poplar, won regulatory approval Wednesday for a scaled-down facility to be built on the University of Tennessee Memphis campus.

The state Health Services and Development Agency approved the $26.8 million project with no opposition or debate.

The new hospital at 951 Court will have 111 licensed beds and save the state about $1.5 million a year, Department of Mental Health legal counsel Cynthia Tyler said.

The decision to build a smaller hospital worries advocates such as Brad Cobb. "I'm glad we are getting a new facility. I am still concerned about the limited space. I think we will see a bigger and bigger need" for hospital care, he said. Cobb is executive director of the Memphis chapter of the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill. He also serves on the MMHI board.

Statewide, the number of uninsured adults diagnosed with chronic, severe mental illness has grown as TennCare trims its rolls. The cuts are part of a broader effort to reform the experimental Medicaid program. About 21,000 such adults are expected to lose TennCare coverage. TennCare is also capping the number of prescriptions it will buy for most adults who retain coverage.

The state is offering those losing coverage a variety of free services, including certain prescription medications. So far about 44 percent have registered to receive those benefits.

State officials have explained that fewer beds will be needed partly because patients who need more than 30 days of hospital care will be transferred from MMHI to a state hospital in Bolivar.

MMHI averaged 88 patients a day in a three-month period ending in August, including 15 to 20 long-term patients, said spokeswoman Rachel Lassiter.

MMHI has been in its current building since 1962, but Department of Mental Health officials say it does not meet current earthquake building standards.

Methodist is buying the 6.1-acre MMHI site from the state for $12.5 million. Methodist will demolish the old MMHI building and build a new Le Bonheur hospital there. Le Bonheur is a Methodist subsidiary.

The state will use the sale proceeds to help finance the new MMHI. UT will pay the remainder, through sale of state school bonds, and own the new facility, which it will lease to the state. Some UT medical, psychiatry, nursing and other students will receive part of their training in the new MMHI.

If the State Building Commission approves the deal as expected on Oct. 13, construction should start before the end of 2005, but a completion date is not yet known.

Source: Commercial Appeal, The

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