Navigate the healthcare industry
Healthcare Brew covers pharmaceutical developments, health startups, the latest tech, and how it impacts hospitals and providers to keep administrators and providers informed.
One of the lingering challenges caused by the Covid-19 pandemic is the toll it took on mental health—especially among children.
Between 2016 and 2020, the number of children between ages three and 17 years old who have been diagnosed with anxiety grew by 29%, and the number of children diagnosed with depression increased 27% during that same period.
However, a recent study from Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, published in JAMA Pediatrics on August 19, found that there may not be enough beds to address the mental health crisis. Using data on hospitals with inpatient psychiatric care in the American Hospital Association Survey Database, the researchers analyzed inpatient pediatric psychiatry capacity state by state between 2017 and 2020.
The study found there was “no significant” change in the number of hospitals nationwide that have pediatric inpatient psychiatric beds—398 to 400 between 2017 and 2020—nor the number of actual beds across the country—11,107 to 11,276 in the same time frame.
The number of psych beds overall is also low, according to research by the Treatment Advocacy Center, which found that the number of psych beds decreased by more than 20% in 19 states. It also found that in 2023, the number of state hospital beds for psychiatry was 10.8 per 100,000 people, a nearly 8% drop from 2016.
Rural deserts. Researchers also found that over 90% of pediatric inpatient psychiatric beds are based in urban areas, possibly leaving children in rural areas without access to mental health care resources.
Access to care also varied by state. In Alaska, for example, there are no pediatric psych beds at all, and in Arkansas, there were 75 beds per 100,000 children.
“We need to think creatively as a healthcare system about how we can ensure children who live in areas with fewer pediatric mental health care resources can access needed care, including through alternative care models such as community crisis services and telehealth consultation with pediatric mental health specialists,” Anna Cushing, lead author and pediatric emergency care physician at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, said in a press release on Monday.
Wait list. While some hospitals are looking to open more psych beds—including Montefiore Medical Center in New York, which has received the green light to build an $8.9 million, 21-bed mental health center at its children’s hospital—a lot of children have been left waiting.
“We’re seeing a greater need for mental health services for children nationwide, and children increasingly having to wait in the emergency room for long periods of time because there are not enough inpatient psychiatric beds available,” Cushing said in the release.
The average length of time pediatric mental health patients spend in the emergency department is 19 hours—a figure that rose 61% between 2019 and 2021—according to a 2023 study from Brown University and Bradley Hospital in Rhode Island.
“All children should have access to high-quality mental health care regardless of where they live, their household income, or their background,” Cushing added in the release.