Spectrum closes detoxification center
GRAND RAPIDS -- Spectrum Health will close its Health Recovery Center at the Kent Community Campus at the end of the month, leaving fewer local beds for detoxification and intensive medical treatment of substance abusers.

The closing cuts in half the number of short-stay, in-patient beds and leaves Turning Point Substance Abuse Services, run by The Salvation Army at Ferguson Hospital, as the only program. The closest similar programs are in Lansing and Brighton.

Spectrum officials say the 36-bed unit, managed by an outside contractor until 2001, recently has been only half full. And reimbursement pressures helped them decide to stick to medicine and leave behavioral services to others.

It is too expensive to provide substance abuse services in a hospital setting when they can be provided more cheaply in outpatient programs, said Lori Portfleet, president of Spectrum Health Continuing Care.

Those with severe substance abuse problems need someplace to get inpatient treatment before they are ready for an outpatient program.

The closing will force hospital emergency departments to provide detox treatment if no local beds are available. It also will put pressure on Pine Rest's inpatient units, which house patients with both mental illness and substance-abuse issues.

"There is a great need for the beds here," Holwerda said. But many insurance companies are unwilling to pay for the short-stay services, he said. And cuts in Medicaid coverage also have put short-stay treatment at risk.

Give a list of NA/AA meetings and send 'em on their way. And put yet more pressure on the hospital ERs, there's an idea. This subject is way too close to my heart right now so it's hard not to go off on a rant...all I can say is that it's going to result in more dead addicts and/or drunks. It's that simple.