June 14, 2010

Assembly, No. 2866

On June 28, 2010, New Jersey approved a bill (A 2866) that established a State Mental Health Facilities Evaluation Task Force to evaluate the state’s psychiatric facilities. The task force was charged with evaluating the state's long-term inpatient psychiatric bed needs and the effects of displacing patients from state psychiatric hospitals. The purpose of this task force relates to the care and cost of persons currently receiving treatment in one of the state psychiatric facilities that had been slated to close, including the Hagedon Psychiatric Hospital, which had been scheduled to close by the end of state fiscal year 2011. On June 21, a budget compromise was reached to keep Senator Garrett W. Hagedon Psychiatric Hospital open for at least one year.