Sacramento Hospitals See Jump in Mental Health Care

Sacramento County emergency departments are seeing an increasing number of patients with mental health issues, about 20% of whom are uninsured, according to state data. About 4,100 patients requiring mental health care visited a Sacramento County ED across the first three months of 2010, up by 30% from 2009. Part of the uptick stems from last year's closing of the county's mental health crisis unit.

• "Mental Patients Swamp Unprepared ERs in Sacramento County" (Calvan/Reese, Sacramento Bee, 8/15).