There should be more hospital beds for psychiatric patients in Las Vegas, after Nevada doubled the Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement rate for mental health treatment. An aide to Gov. Brian Sandoval and a Valley Health System spokeswoman in Las Vegas said Thursday that hiking the rate from $460 a day to $944 a day will allow Valley Hospital to add a 48-bed behavioral health unit by December. That should help relieve crowding at hospital emergency rooms at other for-profit hospitals in the Las Vegas-area. The Rawson-Neal Psychiatric Hospital is the only state adult psychiatric hospital in southern Nevada, and it is usually full.
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Jay Bartos joined Nevada Public Radio in 1993 to develop and manage the state’s first radio reading service for people unable to use standard printed material due to blindness or another disability. After the reading service was discontinued in 2011, he became the afternoon host on KNPR for ten years. Jay can now be heard on air on News 88.9 KNPR and Classical 89.7 KCNV throughout the week.