A joint investigation by WRAL and North Carolina Health News uncovered a history of problems with two local mental health hospitals that serve North Carolina’s most vulnerable population, children.
This story was discovered only by conducting interviews and making public records requests with local, state and federal agencies. The information took weeks to gather. Unfortunately, parents looking for help for their children in crisis don’t have that much time to find the best facility.
Jason Clark’s daughter Kayla is no stranger to Raleigh’s Holly Hill Mental Health Hospital. It has been committed unintentionally several times. Her daughter even tried to run away earlier this year, but was stopped at the nursing station.
When asked if he would send his daughter to Holly Hill if necessary, Clark replied that he would not want her to go back.
Clark told WRAL Investigates that Kayla asked to leave during pre-visits, which weren’t easy to schedule in the first place.
When I finally saw her, she was happy to see me and was practically drooling and asking me if I could help her out, Clark said.
Clark supports involuntary commitment in cases like his daughter who really needed help. I just wish parents had more control.
Clark said every parent should have a say in what their child is involuntarily engaged in.
But WRAL Investigates found that even with more scrutiny, parents are still left in the dark when it comes to mental health facilities like Holly Hill.
WRAL Investigates asked state Rep. Sarah Crawford, D-Wake County, why you can go online and see inspections, ratings and violations for common hospitals, child care centers, nursing homes and restaurants , but not mental health hospitals.
This is very worrying, she replied.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has a robust database of hospital inspections, quality of care, and staff ratings. However, when you try to search for many inpatient mental health hospitals, all categories say that the information is not available.
We need to make sure that any claims that are substantiated are publicly available to people, Crawford said.
WRAL Investigates asked the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services [CMS] about the lack of information.
In a statement, a CMS spokesperson said, “Although CMS does not give star ratings to psychiatric hospitals, consumers can still find valuable quality information by using the following CMS resources.”
These resources included with the statement were a spreadsheet that you can download, but that you can’t even decipher considering all the categories, acronyms, and codes that don’t necessarily reflect the actual quality of care. The other resource was the same online database which again has no information on hospital performance.
Through a public records request, WRAL Investigates found that a 2021 inspection of Holly Hill was releasing patients with discharge papers signed by someone without a nurse’s license who did not work for Holly Hill.
A couple of months later, the facility was placed in immediate jeopardy, meaning it could lose federal payments, after two teenagers jumped a fence and escaped. Inspectors also noted that staff failed to stop sexual interaction between patients on at least two occasions.
Last year, researchers found problems with patients’ treatment plans not being made on time. The researchers also found multiple problems with the handling, administration and recording of the drugs.
All of this was news to Clark, because none of these inspections are available to parents.
Crawford says that needs to change.
I need to do some research to figure out how to handle it,” Crawford said. “I think there’s an opportunity for us. [state lawmakers] to take a look at this.
For parents like Clark, change couldn’t come soon enough. He says more information could give parents peace of mind.
“If there’s no transparency it makes me wonder what’s being hidden, because I’ve never known anything that’s been hidden by a company or corporation that’s good,” Clark said.
In previous stories about care at Holly Hill, a hospital spokesperson told WRAL Investigates that they could not provide information “about any specific individual due to HIPAA privacy laws.”
The spokesperson added that “we can affirm that we strive to meet or exceed the expectations of all patients and their families.”
If you are having suicidal thoughts or a mental health crisis, call or text 988. Veterans can press 1 after dialing 988 to be connected directly to the Veterans Crisis Lifeline. For text messages, veterans should continue to text the Veterans Crisis Lifeline short code: 838255.
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