TRENTON — New Jersey will add nearly 900 more treatment beds for people who are addicted to drugs and alcohol and suffer from a mental illness — expanding the state’s inpatient mental health system by almost 40 percent, Gov. Chris Christie announced Tuesday.
The announcement is the latest step in Christie’s plan to drive down the number of New Jerseyans who are addicted to heroin and opioid-based prescription medication.
Christie said in his State of the State speech earlier this month he intended to spend his final year in office focusing on what he has declared is a public health crisis.
In 2015, 1,600 people in New Jersey died from heroin and opioid overdose — two times the national rate and a 22 percent increase from the year prior. NJ Advance Media estimates at least 128,000 in the state are addicted to heroin.
State panels approve 5-day limit on painkiller prescriptions
In his Jan. 10 speech, the governor asked the Legislature to pass a bill that would require insurance carriers to provide up to six months of inpatient and out-patient treatment without prior authorization or an up-front payment.
Christie also asked that doctors be required to limit the initial prescriptions they write for most of their chronic pain patients to five days, rather than the standard 30-day supply. The prescription could be renewed on the fourth day and expanded after an evaluation.
A bill containing these two provisions along with others passed two legislative committees Monday.
In an announcement made at Renaissance House, a drug treatment program for women and adolescents in Newark, Christie said the expansion “will ensure that individuals with the co-diagnosis of behavioral health and substance abuse issues will get the treatment they need to reclaim their lives, their families and their futures.”
“Opioid addiction is a public health crisis and we must take aggressive action to get this crisis under control and save lives,” Christie said.
The state Health Department will embark on a “certificate of need” process that will involve award contracts for the 864 beds after soliciting bids Queenbet and proposals from addiction and behavioral health treatment providers, according to Christie’s announcement.
The state is seeking a mix of inpatient and outpatient programs, with at least five percent set aside for people on Medicaid, and five percent for those who lack health insurance.
Christie administration officials said they did not immediately have an estimate of how much the additional beds would cost, and how much of the cost would be born by the state or federal governments.
The treatment programs will be targeted for Atlantic, Cape May, Cumberland, Gloucester, Hunterdon, Middlesex, Monmouth, Morris, Ocean, Passaic, Salem, Sussex and Warren counties. Special attention will be paid to Cape May, Salem and Warren counties, where there are no inpatient psychiatric beds, according to the announcement.
The private agencies must guarantee they will open up the number of contracted services within two years.
Sen. Joseph Vitale (D-Middlesex), the health committee chairman, lauded the governor’s announcement, but also called attention to one of his bills that abolish the certificate of need process for mental health services — a move that could shave months off the regulatory review.
“Eliminating the call will expedite the licensure of the beds,” he said.
There are 2,343 inpatient psychiatric beds in the state, so this expansion would raise that figure by about 40 percent, according to the health department.
“The governor is doing the right thing, at the right time for the right reasons,” said Robert Davison, executive director for the Mental Health Association of Essex County. “These beds are sorely needed.”
Deborah Wentz, president and CEO of the trade group, the New Jersey Association of Mental Health and Addiction Agencies, called the governor’s announcement “a positive development and good news.”
“We look forward to learning more of the details about where and how the beds will be distributed, how providers will obtain referrals and funding and the details for responding to the need for bricks and mortar to house the new beds,” Wentz said.
Went noted there was other good news to celebrate for people who work in the addiction and mental health field and rely on these services. The state Department of Human Services also announced Tuesday that it was raising the reimbursement rates for psychiatrists and advance practice nurses who see Medicaid patients outside of a hospital.
The rates have been the source of tense meetings between state officials and treatment providers, who said reimbursements were so low they would have to reduce the number of people they are able to see.
A psychiatrist who meets with a Medicaid patient for a 25-minute consultation, for instance, would be paid $119.85 compared to $60.19, the current rate, according to the department’s memo explaining the rate changes.
Wentz said these “noteworthy increases show the leadership has taken seriously the provider concerns and are making an effort to address them.”
People can visit www.reachnj.gov for instant, 24-hour drug-addiction related help.
Susan K. Livio may be reached at slivio@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @SusanKLivio. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook.
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