CHAIR FLETCHER & SUPERVISORS VOTE TO ADVANCE PIVOTAL BEHAVIORAL HEALTH INITIATIVES

Chair Nathan Fletcher and the San Diego County Board of Supervisors gave its Department of Behavioral Health the authority to proceed with a series of actions to continue the progress of building a better way to deliver behavioral health services.

After today’s vote, Chair Fletcher issued the following statement: 

“The investments authorized by the Board of Supervisors today advance several significant initiatives to transform the way we deliver mental health and addiction treatment,” said Chair Fletcher.  “We will be able to make better use of existing facilities, move into new locations, and most importantly expand service capacity.”   

The actions authorized by Chair Fletcher and Board include: 

• Appropriate funds to support construction of the Tri-City Healthcare District Psychiatric Health Facility;
• Accept $16.8 million of one-time capital funds from the State for the construction of a new 12-bed Acute Psychiatric Unit within the existing Edgemoor Skilled Nursing Facility campus; 
• Authorize the department to formally shift future services at the San Diego County Psychiatric Hospital facility from psychiatric acute inpatient care and emergency psychiatric unit services to a new optimal array of services; 
• Appropriate up to $5 million for planning and design for facility improvements for the San Diego County Psychiatric Hospital Facility;  
• Authorize the formal shift from acute inpatient, crisis stabilization, and intensive outpatient services to community-based care services, which may include an adult residential facility, residential care facility for the elderly, recuperative care services to support the development of the Central Region Community-Based Care Facility on Third Avenue.
• Appropriate $1 million for planning and design to support construction, which may include an adult residential facility, residential care facility for the elderly, and recuperative care services, for an East Region Community-Based Care Facility.  

To read the entire policy, click here.