Psychiatric hospitals — increasingly owned by for-profit corporations — are illegally turning away patients during crises. Yet only a handful face penalties, with fines that are trivial, a ProPublica investigation found.

Shields and other researchers have repeatedly flagged concerns about lower quality of care at mental health facilities owned by for-profit corporations, in part due to efforts to cut staff and reduce costs. Companies have defended the quality of care they provide.

ProPublica reported Monday that over 90 psychiatric hospitals across the country have violated the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act in the past 15 years. The vast majority of them — around 80% — are owned by for-profit corporations.

Yet only a handful have faced any consequences from either the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services or the inspector general of the Department of Health and Human Services, both of which are responsible for regulating the law. In the rare cases when hospitals have faced fines, the penalties have been trivial compared to the earnings of each for-profit hospital chain, the investigation found.

  • Michael@slrpnk.netEnglish
    9·
    15 days ago

    Companies have defended the quality of care they provide.

    And so do staff that work at these hospitals to me online. They defend the for-profit hospital model, and simultaneously reveal how dire the working conditions are for providers and how poor the treatment conditions are for patients in these hospitals - even in the best examples.

    I’m not anti-psychiatry, but I think the profit motive should stay the hell out of mental health treatment - especially inpatient stays. Mental health professionals dealing with conditions such as being understaffed, underfunded, overworked, abjectly and repeatedly traumatized by subsequent conditions, etc. does not create a proper care environment for healing.

    The fast food model of mental health care that prioritizes stabilization over lasting relief and safety, foregoing true interventions in environment and the patient’s situation outside of inpatient stays, and the large amount of debt for-profit hospitals put patients in is unconscionable.

    Where will the money come from if hospitals aren’t for-profit? Billionaires make money out of thin air - doctors/etc. should do the same by practicing… they are a net benefit on society.

    We don’t have to repeat the days of state-run institutions - we can facilitate transparency and oversight, preserve human rights and increase patient-centered advocacy, and allow for outside, second opinions - among many other things to vastly improve the standard of care.

    • pelespirit@sh.itjust.worksOPMEnglish
      5·
      15 days ago

      We don’t have to repeat the days of state-run institutions - we can facilitate transparency and oversight, preserve human rights and increase patient-centered advocacy, and allow for outside, second opinions - among many other things to vastly improve the standard of care.

      Amen.