PROVIDENCE, RI -- The branch of state government that focuses on behavioral health care is working on a proposal for handling chronic alcohol abusers, whose care has taxed both the city's fire rescue service and the emergency department at Rhode Island Hospital.
Legislation enacted earlier this year requires the state Department of Behavioral Healthcare, Developmental Disabilities and Hospitals to come up with a program that offers substance abusers a treatment option outside of the emergency room and aims to get them into longer-term treatment and recovery. The proposal is due Monday.
Earlier this year, The Journal reported that alcohol issues brought 160 people to the hospital on 2,835 occasions in 2011. Eleven of those patients visited the hospital more than 50 times each, accounting for 1,109 of the total visits.