UVM Health Network proposes $18 million program to address mental health crisis in Vermont
Burlington Free Press
The University of Vermont Health Network wants to build a mental health urgent care clinic to take some of the heat off of its emergency departments, which often act as de facto shelters for patients suffering mental health crises.
The $2.85 million clinic is just one part of an $18 million proposal the Health Network made, in conjunction with the Vermont Department of Mental Health, to the Green Mountain Care Board last week to address the state's mental health care crisis.
The largest single expenditure in the proposal is $4.5 million to reconfigure the psychiatric unit at Central Vermont Medical Center in Berlin to "increase bed use and improve patient experience." The reconfiguration involves converting six beds from shared rooms to private rooms to give psychiatric patients more privacy, calm and quiet.