County moves forward with ambitious plan to remake mental health system
San Diego Union-TribuneSep 27, 2022
County supervisors universally praised a sweeping vision for transformation of the region's mental health care system Tuesday, highlighting the specificity of the plans brought forward so far.
As outlined by
"To get where we need to be, we have to radically expand our infrastructure and workforce," Bergmann said.
Though the task is massive, the supervisors didn't seem particularly daunted.
"We've had, really since the early 1980s, an abandonment of our collective public responsibility to behavioral health across
The plan, what county staffers are calling an "Optimal Care Pathways Model," calls for working with public and private health care providers and other government agencies to encourage and provide incentives for prevention of up to 40 percent of current stays in locked units.
That's a very specific goal, and one that
"People were going through the motions, but they weren't thinking about outcomes," Anderson said. "What I love about this is it's outcome based."
Bergmann made it clear that such a reduction, and a simultaneous shift to a more preventive model of operation, will not occur overnight. But he added that he will return in mid-October with a long-range facilities plan to set the model presented Tuesday in motion.
Some aspects of that plan have already been shared with the public, such as working with
Rosecrans, he said, could then be redeveloped as a skilled nursing facility for those in need of long-term behavioral health treatment.
Plans are also underway to add board-and-care capacity at a county-owned property on
"While our goals are ambitious, we will be making substantial headway in short order," Bergmann said.
The county is also moving forward with a plan to build a mental health hub in
Children are also a significant part of the county's multi-pronged behavioral health improvement program, with a "screening to care" initiative expanding in local schools and expansion plans underway at
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