The state of New Hampshire is investing up to $100 million in mental health services following a recent state Supreme Court ruling to help psychiatric patients who are being held involuntarily in emergency rooms.
A combination of federal and state funds will support 30 new emergency beds at hospitals, 60 new transitional housing beds, and 20 long-term care community beds, new mobile crisis teams, and other services, Gov. Chris Sununu said Thursday at a news conference.
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The state also will allow new private providers into New Hampshire, and it has been complying with evaluation requirements and has set new rules for licensing, treatment and discharge following the court decision, Sununu said.
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Sununu said the ruling "created an opportunity for the state, I think to double-down our efforts" and break barriers to mental health treatment.
The state achieved a major milestone in April 2020 when, for the first time in eight years, no one was waiting in a hospital emergency room for an inpatient psychiatric bed. But the numbers went back up earlier this year amid the COVID-19 pandemic and included record numbers of children, health officials said.
Nearly 99,000 people have tested positive for the virus in New Hampshire, including 74 cases announced Thursday. One new death was announced; the total number remained at 1,354.
The seven-day rolling average of daily new cases in New Hampshire decreased over the past two weeks, going from 126 new cases per day on May 18 to 46 new cases a day Tuesday.
