From: 	Fickling, Deborah

... hospitals have begun closing their
psychiatric units because of low payments from government programs and
health insurers, uncompensated care for uninsured patients and a
shortage of psychiatrists willing to work in hospitals.

Nearly 80% of hospitals say mentally ill patients who need to be
hospitalized sometimes must wait four hours or longer to be admitted
because of a shortage of psychiatric beds and mental health staff
...
By comparison, 30% of hospitals said patients not seeking mental health
services had to wait four hours or more before being admitted.

<http://www.kaisernetwork.org/daily_reports/rep_index.cfm?DR_ID=52789>

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