White Paper: Pennsylvania Community Alternatives to Psychiatric Residential Treatment Facility Services

The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Office of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services engaged Mercer Consulting, a part of Mercer Health & Benefits LLC, to review current issues related to psychiatric residential treatment facilities (PRTFs) utilization. Mercer was charged with developing recommendations that promote home- and community-based alternatives to residential treatment, with a particular emphasis on youth served through the juvenile justice system.

In 2006, Pennsylvania spent nearly $234 million on PRTFs in accredited facilities. The state had 3,223 beds in PRTFs. Spending in 2006 was higher than the $206 million spent in 2005, and may reflect the effect . . .