Timely decision making in a crisis. Within two hours of getting a call, we have to make a disposition on the case and arrange for admission. I had a case as a matter of fact that I put in yesterday, and I just got an answer a couple of hours ago. In addition, Sheola put the squeeze on health care providers, doctors and hospitals, because that s now managed care saves most of its money. Less psychotherapy, shorter hospital stays, fewer admissions, fewer trips to the emergency room, better opportunities to live in community settings that are less expensive, more responsive, and generally what consumers want.
Consumers don t want to be in hospitals.
It s now been more than a year since Sheola took over. But Center House has been around for years. New community settings, a key promise of the partnership, have yet to be established. There s also evidence that an increasing portion of the commonwealth s prison population is made up of the mentally ill. Dr. Dumont says that things have gotten worse and replacing public institutions with free market privatization is to blame.