Ombudsman Finds Persistent Problems at the Alaska Psychiatric Institute

According to a new report from the Alaska ombudsman, Alaska’s only public psychiatric hospital failed to meet federal requirements for evaluating patients, didn’t provide adequate treatment and failed to investigate complaints about workplace harassment in 2020, APM reports.

The report says the hospital did not provide active treatment to all patients or consistently create and update treatment plans, despite previous commitments to improve its services. In most cases, patients were given the same “cookie cutter” treatment plan of psychiatric nursing and medication when they were admitted, the report says. And, it noted, the hospital didn’t provide any culturally informed treatment in 2020 despite about 40% of patients being Alaska Native. 

On multiple occasions, the hospital’s CEO Scott York provided inaccurate information to investigators, according to the report.