• 
• CLASS
• JOBS
• AUTO
• HOMES

County budget is better, but still over, for psychiatric care

Photo

Photo

JANESVILLE — The rise in costs to institutionalize Rock County’s mental health patients has slowed, and the human services department could be closer to making its 2008 budget than previously expected, said Jason Witt, human services deputy director.

The county budgeted $1.5 million to place people in inpatient psychiatric treatment. The county plans to budget an additional $1 million for treatment in 2009, for a total of $2.5 million.

As of Aug. 31, the county had spent $1.9 million. Based on trends, Witt predicts the department will spend $2.9 million by the end of the year.

That’s almost double what was budgeted, but it’s not as bad as it looked in early August, when the county projected it would spend $3.1 million in 2008.

“Our daily tracking shows that placements have been under 10 since Sept. 11,” Witt wrote in an e-mail to The Janesville Gazette. “But things can change quickly based on a variety of factors, and just one case can have a dramatic impact on expenses.”

The month with the highest average daily census of county residents in state institutions was May, when nearly 16 people were institutionalized daily, according to county data. The lowest month was February with nine people.

The number of people staying at state institutions and the psychiatric floor at University Hospital in Madison has increased annually since 2006, according to county data.

In 2006, the county paid for 112 people to get treatment. In 2007, that number increased to 165.

As of July 30, 144 people had already been institutionalized in 2008, according to county data.

The number of institutionalized people has nearly doubled since the county closed its inpatient psychiatric facility in 2002. From 2001 to 2006, the number of institutionalized children and adults at Winnebago and Mendota mental heath facilities was between 80 and 90 annually.

In 2007, that number jumped to 151.

The increase was a statewide phenomenon, said Charmian Klyve, human services director.

The increasing cost of care and greater numbers of patients are to blame for rising expenses, Klyve said.

The base cost for an adult to stay at Winnebago is $727 per day; it is $741 at Mendota.

The cost without professional fees for inpatient psychiatric care at Mercy Hospital in Janesville is $1,500. At University Hospital in Madison, the cost is $1,068 per day.