State Backs Troubled Portland Psychiatric ER Keeping Its License

PORTLAND, OR – After months of uncertainty, it appears the Unity Center for Behavioral Health will likely keep its certification. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services placed the center on the track to have its certification revoked last May.

That action came after investigators from the Oregon Health Authority detailed many safety problems at Unity, a 24/7 center for people experiencing a mental health crisis. The center, which opened last year, quickly became the area's main psychiatric emergency room.

The problems included failing to restrain patients, not paying enough attention to patients who had threatened to harm themselves, patients were given incorrect medications, and the fact that some patients had been able to escape.

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Unity and its parent, Legacy Health, were told that if problems were not fixed, Unity would lose certification and no longer receive reimbursements

On Thursday, OHA announced that after at three-day inspection, they believe that Unity is back on track and should keep its certification.

"In recommending that the termination be rescinded, OHA surveyors informed CMS that Unity has sufficiently implemented an acceptable Plan of Correction that will allow it to meet CMS Conditions of Participation," the manager of OHA’s Health Care Regulation and Quality Improvement Section, which administers the Health Facility Licensing and Certification Program, said Dana Selover, M.D. said.

"The Plan of Correction has additional steps that the facility will use moving forward to ensure that patients will receive a level of care that meets state and federal standards."

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services must still sign off on OHA's recommendation.

Photo of a nurse's station at Unity via Unity Center