Chair questions Bellevue outposted therapeutic unit capacity and expansion

Regarding the outposted therapeutic health units,

How many people have been transferred from Rikers to the Bellevue Outposted Therapeutic Health Unit since it opened?

So I don't have the total number transferred.

I can tell you the current census is 81 patients, and 18 of those patients are on the PACE unit, which, as mentioned earlier,

the PACE unit at the Bellevue Outposted unit is for individuals who have comorbid psychological and medical complexities.

Most of the beds at Bellevue Outposted are for people who have medical complexities, and there are 63 patients for those.

So all 104 bids are not operational right now.

They're operational, but they aren't currently filled.

So in terms of bed capacity, that would differ from ideal clinical capacity.

We have to take into account things like patients'acuity, need, the therapeutic milieu of the unit.

So we wouldn't necessarily want every bed to be filled at every moment.

That said, I believe Bellevue Outposted is holding some beds for patients who are currently hospitalized, knowing that they'll need to be returned to the unit.

So with that in mind, are there any plans to expand the number of beds at Bellevue beyond the current capacity?

Not at Bellevue.

That unit has 104 beds, but we are in the process of opening two additional units.

We are in the procurement phase for the construction of the outposted unit at Woodhull.

We hope to be in the procurement stage soon for North Central Bronx.

And those two units, unlike the Bellevue unit, will be focused more on patients with significant mental health needs, particularly Woodhull,

as they may have some comorbid medical or substance use needs, but it'll primarily be psychological concerns.

And so NADA is in procurement.

Once it goes from the...

I imagine it goes into design.

We've been working on design, so we're hoping to start construction of the actual outposted units early next year,

and then working towards 2029 opening dates for both units, although there's interest throughout the administration in expediting that, so we are looking for opportunities to move out that timeline.