Oregon’s Medicaid insurers are investing $25 million to provide more beds and psychiatrists for youths with the most intense needs.

The investment came at the request of Gov. Tina Kotek. The insurers, known as coordinated care organizations in Oregon’s unique Medicaid model, collectively made record profits during the pandemic, even as other parts of the health care system struggled with inflation, financial losses and service cuts.

“Oregon needs more treatment options to help young people in our state who are struggling with serious behavioral health issues,” Kotek said in a press release Thursday.

“The state and CCOs developed a plan to reinvest surplus Medicaid dollars into Oregon communities, and this partnership will support youth behavioral health projects that we desperately need.”

The governor’s office and CCOs have identified four projects that they said serve youth, meet the greatest need, and are geographically diverse. The investment are as follows:

$13.2 million to the Trillium Family Services Project

• located in the Portland Metro area to spur new psychiatric residential treatment beds.
• $7.5 million to the

Adapt Project

• , based in Douglas County. This investment will support a new campus currently underway in the region that will provide treatment beds.
• $2.3 million to the

Looking Glass Project

• in Lane County to expand psychiatric bed capacity.
• $2 million to

Community Counseling Solutions Project

• in Morrow County. This investment will close a funding gap for new psychiatric beds.

Oregon has fewer inpatient beds available for youth with the most serious psychiatric needs than it did 20 years ago. Some experts say changes in Oregon’s Medicaid payment model contributed to that decline.

As a result, children in crisis often end up boarding in hospital emergency departments or in general pediatric hospital wings and struggle to find specialized care.

Some Oregon children on Medicaid even need to travel to other states for psychiatric care, according to a report this week from the Oregon Health Authority’s ombuds program.

The ombuds report found that from July 1, 2021, through June 30, 2023, 1,923 Oregon Health Plan members under age 18 visited an emergency department with mental health concerns as their primary reason for the visit.

Nationally, there’s a lack of community resources to care for children at risk of suicide and other major mental health and behavioral problems.

In August, three of the top national medical associations, including the American Academy of Pediatrics, published a joint statement on increasing numbers of children seeking care for mental health in emergency departments and a lack of support for them after they’re discharged.