Currently, 25 percent of the Oregon State Hospital beds are taken up by people who have been charged with a crime but determined unfit to stand trial without mental health treatment. But many of these people are not a danger to themselves and others and might get better treatment closer to home. Meanwhile, hospital beds are unavailable for other people in more need of acute intensive psychiatric care.
May 21, 2009 -- The fastest way to get up to speed on how Oregon spends its mental health dollar is to cruise the executive summary of the December 2008 report, Assessment and Evaluation of the Mental Health Care Delivery System in Oregon. This report was prepared at the request of the state legislature by the Public Consulting Group, a Boston-based management consulting firm.
