West Virginia DHHR working on plans to keep disabled out of state hospitals

The commission heard from Christina Mullins, DHHR’s deputy secretary of Mental Health and Substance Use Disorders, and Bob Hansen, former director of the West Virginia Office of Drug Control Policy for DHHR. Hansen last week began working as a special assistant to DHHR, serving as a liaison between the department, intellectual and developmental disability (IDD) patients, service providers, state hospitals, and advocacy organizations.

“The first thing I’m going to be doing is getting a good understanding of the problem instead of jumping into solutions,” Hansen said.

DHHR began meetings with Disability Rights West Virginia in February with new meetings every two weeks. DRWV serves as the designated federal Protection and Advocacy System agency that provides third-party monitoring of state agencies that serve the disabled.

DHHR manages two psychiatric hospitals: William R. Sharpe Jr. Hospital in Weston and Mildred Mitchell-Bateman Hospital in Huntington. Meant for patients on short-term mental health issues and violent patients, the hospitals have been increasingly used to house non-violent IDD patients for long periods of time.

By the end of 2022, there were 88 IDD patients between Bateman and Sharpe hospitals according to DRWV. Advocates maintain that these patients – some of whom are dropped off at state hospitals by providers who decide they cannot care for these individuals – should not be kept in these mental hospitals. Hansen said he has already been to Bateman and will visit Sharpe next week.

“I want to meet individually with each patient who has an IDD and who has been civilly committed to the state hospitals,’ Hansen said. “I want to find out what their disabilities are, what their challenges are, and what the discharge plans are for each individual.”

The Legislature passed Senate Bill 232 during the 2023 session to create a multi-disciplinary study group to make recommendations regarding the diversion of IDD patients in the state’s prisons, jails, and court-ordered placement in the state’s psychiatric hospitals. The study group would develop placement recommendations for inmates and persons with IDD. The bill also requires development of a plan to coordinate care, treatment, and placement for persons with IDD in the criminal justice system and in the community.

The relationship between DHHR and DRWV grew strained under the leadership of former DHHR cabinet secretary Bill Crouch, who resigned at the end of last year. Crouch publicly attacked DRWV at two legislative interim meetings last year and instructed staff not to respond to DRWV requests for information without getting approval. Crouch also tried to put pressure on West Virginia Public Broadcasting to retract a story based on DRWV claims.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights opened an investigation last November into allegations that DHHR was unlawfully discriminating based on disability in the way it runs its IDD waiver program which allows individuals with IDD to remain with family or service providers instead of being institutionalized.

Hansen said DHHR is working on recommendations it can present to DHHR leadership and lawmakers by the end of 2023. During his review process, Hansen said he wants to work on a better discharge planning process for IDD patients, work with both hospitals to make sure patients are ready for discharge and transition back into their communities and reduce the number of future commitments. Hansen also wants to be involved in any commitment decisions over the next eight months.

Steven Allen Adams can be reached at sadams@newsandsentinel.com.