Senate bill seeks requests for proposals to possibly privatize Utah State Hospital building, services

SALT LAKE CITY — Six months after consultants told lawmakers that privatizing the forensic unit of the Utah State Hospital could reduce the quality of patient care, a state senator is pushing legislation that would require the agency that oversees the facility to find a private operator.

However, the sponsor of SB253, Sen. Stuart Adams, R-Layton, says the bill does not mandate privatization. It seeks an array of approaches for construction of facilities or operation of services by private entities under the control of the state Division of Substance Abuse and Mental Health.

Adams, chairman of the Utah Transportation Commission, said public-private partnerships for major state road projects have been highly successful.

"All of that's been done by motivating the private sector," Adams said during a recent meeting of the Senate Health and Human Services Committee, which approved the bill.

"In my mind, why couldn't that be done within the state mental health facility?"

Dallas Earnshaw, superintendent of the Utah State Hospital in Provo, said Tuesday that lawmakers must carefully consider the ramifications of such a change. For one, a number of reports and audits, the latest in 2008, have recommended against privatizing the operation of the state hospital. Comparing the operation of a facility that cares for people in state custody to road projects is concerning, he said.

"These people are in state custody or committed to their local mental health authorities. It's a big risk to hand the care and safety of these individuals to a private entity," Earnshaw said.

If a private entity assumed operations of the hospital, the state would need to hire staff to oversee the operations. That would reduce any potential savings.

"There's a safety issue for the community, patients and the staff themselves on campus. We have the Disability Law Center monitoring at any time what we do. That would change with a private provider," Earnshaw said.

While supporters of Adams' bill say other states have privatized some or all of their state mental health facilities and programs, Earnshaw said Utah is vastly different than Florida, which privatized a hospital in South Florida.

Unlike the Utah State Hospital, which recently passed a rigorous review by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations, the Florida hospital was unaccredited, there were multiple complaints of poor quality care, including those resulting in patient deaths.