ATLANTA, Ala. — Alabama will shut down the majority of its mental health hospitals by spring 2013 to cut costs and change the way mental health patients receive treatment.
Four hospitals will be closed and 948 employees will be laid off, The New York Times reports. The changes are part of a long-time national effort to relocate psychiatric patients from government hospitals to small group homes and private hospitals, where mental health advocates believe they receive better care.
By May 2013, the state plans to have two remaining state mental health hospitals, one for criminal suspects and another for geriatric patients.
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