Jay Batra rejoins the Vermont Department of Mental Health

by Anne Galloway vtdigger.org Dr Jaskanwar Batra is returning to his old job at the Vermont Department of Mental Health. Batra, a psychiatrist, will fill the medical director position that remained vacant after his departure a year ago. He left the department to take a position with Vermont Health Co-op, a health insurance venture that recently dissolved after it failed to obtain approval from the state.
In an email to the mental health community, Paul Dupre, commissioner of the Department of Mental Health, said Batra played a key role in mental health oversight and quality improvement at community mental health centers, especially after Tropical Storm Irene damaged the Vermont State Hospital and forced the department to relocate dozens of patients overnight.
Batra was involved in helping to develop the controversial decentralized psychiatric care system. At first he advocated for a 50-bed facility. When the decentralized system of care with a secure facility in Middlesex and beds in Rutland and Brattleboro took hold, he became a staunch proponent of a 25-bed state facility in Berlin. At the time, the Shumlin administration was pushing for 16 beds because most of the costs would be borne by the federal government in that instance. The additional nine beds must be paid for through state and global commitment (Medicaid) funds.
In an interview with VTDigger last year, and in comments to the Legislature, Batra was adamant that the state must ensure that it has facilities with adequate capacity for severe psychiatric patients.
‘I’m not opposed to decentralization, but the state is so small you can’t actually support a group (of experts when they’re spread out),’ Batra said. ‘Even the 54-bed hospital was a little too small at times. It was more (that I was for) the concentration of expertise rather than the idea I was against regionalization.’
Batra’s arrival comes at a crucial time for the department. The new Vermont Psychiatric Care Center will open this spring and planning for staffing the 25-bed facility must begin right away.
He started work on Monday.