DRCNH Home > News > 2006 editorial

June 7, 2006, Concord Monitor

Letter to the editor, by Richard A. Cohen, Executive Director

I commend the Monitor and reporter Sarah Liebowitz for uncovering a state Health and Human Services task force draft report that found an unconscionable number of patients languishing in New Hampshire Hospital because of a lack of community-based, generally less expensive alternatives (Sunday Monitor, May 28).

The state's failure to develop inexpensive, community-based alternatives costs taxpayers approximately $225,000 per year for each patient who could be better served in a community setting. This study found that at least four of every 10 patients in New Hampshire Hospital remained confined due to lack of housing.

For the patients involved, this involves more than financial pain. Unnecessarily long hospitalizations cause long-term disruption in their lives and add to the problem of full reintegration into community life.

Until last week's Monitor article, the report never made it beyond the draft phase and into public view. Health and Human Services Commissioner John Stephen has sat on this study since 2004, preventing or delaying implementation of the recommendations. To add insult to injury, the report was being withheld at the very time several key legislative and gubernatorial commissions and committees were studying questions that could have been answered by the task force report.

Kudos to the Monitor for getting this report into the public domain so that its recommendations can be considered and acted on. Shame on the commissioner, whose official role and responsibility is to promote the health, welfare and independence of individuals with mental illness through cost-effective programs and services, for withholding this report and thereby thwarting the critical actions that could improve lives and save tax dollars.