Opinion | It’s time to address Michigan’s behavioral health capacity nightmare

A behavioral health crisis is sweeping our nation, bringing with it an onslaught of challenges to our communities and the economy. Though Michigan has made efforts to support our vulnerable populations, a lack of resources — specifically available behavioral health beds — is threatening the impact of our current efforts. We must address this bed shortage, which would expand access to treatment and make a healthier future possible for our state.

Mental health has been a growing concern across the country. A 2023 national survey from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration found that 22.8% of adults — or 58.7 million people — had a mental illness in the past year.

With such high rates of mental illness comes a high demand for treatment. In fact, national hospital bed capacity is projected to exceed 85% by 2032. Capacity at this high of a level can make basic hospital operations become dysfunctional and even unsafe. In Michigan specifically, occupancy rates rose 11% in the last decade, setting the stage for a behavioral health crisis. If beds are unavailable, then people in crisis are unable to receive the treatment they need.  

Behavioral health treatment offers support for those facing a myriad of issues, from drug and alcohol addiction to suicidal thoughts and more. Increasing bed availability in hospitals across our state ensures that anyone, regardless of their behavioral health struggle, can receive the treatments they need. 

Of the 269,229 individuals with a severe mental illness in Michigan, less than half of them receive treatment in a given year. Michigan only has 5 psychiatric beds per 100,000 people, far below the 50-bed recommended minimum to provide adequate treatment for individuals with severe mental illness.

People with untreated mental illness can spend weeks or months waiting for an available bed, while the chances of homelessness increase the longer treatment is delayed. Additionally, shrinking capacity is forcing patients involved in criminal activity to stay a median of two months longer in jail as they wait for availability in hospitals. This is unacceptable — if our state goes longer without increasing hospital bed capacity, more lives will be unnecessarily endangered.

Increasing hospital bed capacity will ensure that people who need treatment can receive it with dignity, providing opportunities for access to care for the hundreds of thousands of people who need it.

To address the deficit of care availability as quickly and effectively as possible, we should look to models that have demonstrated success — such as joint venture partnerships. These collaborations can provide the resources needed to help behavioral health patients while lessening the strain on Michigan’s health-care workforce.  

Increasing behavioral health bed capacity will increase access to treatment for the millions of people across the nation and state who need it. Joint venture partnerships between hospitals and behavioral health providers can address staffing and bed capacity needs while providing the health expertise that too many health systems are lacking. These partnerships can also free up hospitals to invest their limited resources in other important areas, like acute care.

One example of a strategic partnerships that has been paving the way to address this ongoing crisis is the Henry Ford Behavioral Health Hospital in West Bloomfield, which recently started seeing patients in need. This collaborative approach can serve as a model for other communities to expand the number of psychiatric beds available.  

Michigan must address the hospital bed capacity crisis across our state. Increasing access to care ensures the people who need emergency and long-term treatment can receive it. I encourage my fellow lawmakers to facilitate an environment conducive to all sorts of effective methods to increase bed capacity. Access to a hospital bed shouldn’t be a luxury, but rather the most basic level of treatment for those in need.