Globe

Emergency department waits for mental health care are still long – The Boston Globe

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Behavioral health patients with unique needs often can’t obtain timely treatment.

By 2024, fewer mental health patients will be waiting in hospital emergency departments than in 2022. But Massachusetts still has some of the nation’s longest waits, and behavioral health patients with special needs — such as the elderly, pregnant women, or children with autism — often can’t get treatment in time. Get the Gavel A … Read more

Massachusetts ERs have problem with mental health ‘boarding,’ study finds – The Boston Globe

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An exam bed sits in a room.

That number has improved slightly in recent years — 12-hour wait times for mental health patients accounted for 37.5 percent of emergency department visits in 2024, down from nearly 40 percent in 2022. Still, barriers at every step of a patient’s journey through the mental health system slow their access to care, the report says. … Read more