AUGUSTA, Maine - Under Gov. Paul LePage's proposed budget, Riverview Psychiatric Center will receive more than $2 million in additional funding over the next three years.
The hope is that the additional funds will help lift the hospital out of a tumultuous few years to regain federal certification and ultimately become a model psychiatric center.
That extra $2 million is a more than 30 percent increase to Riverview's budget, and it's exactly what Superintendent Jay Harper says he was hoping for.
"The money is almost all staffing," he says.
Riverview is trying to rebound after losing federal certification in 2013 and a subsequent $20 million in annual funding after regulators discovered that stun guns and handcuffs had been used on patients.
Harper says the money would pay for 28 additional positions, most of them on the units with patients.
"I feel comfortable we'd have the best shot we've ever had at re-looking at the CMS certification," Harper says.
Harper says funds would also be used to increase training and security. He says his goal is to ultimately make Riverview a center of excellence and model for psychiatric care.
LePage's proposed budget will require support from lawmakers.
