I understand that this issue is brought up by the hospitals themselves. They do not want to care for or pay for psychiatric care in their er. I understand that. Its a ridiculous place to leave someone in a crisis. Maybe mandate each hospital to have a psychiatric unit that can expand and contract as needed. No easy solutions. The core of the problem is the mental health of our people and the thought that psychiatric care can "cure" the mentally ill. Most psych meds are not very helpful, and often times cause more problems them they solve. the real solution lies in getting individuals to properly care for themselves, this will cut out about 80 percent of the patients. A book called "50 things to do before seeing a Psychiatrist " is a solution. The problem is getting folks to actually do these things, it requires effort, often a lot of effort. current society prefers a quick easy fix, unfortunately good mental health requires a life long commitment and mentally healthy parenting. Sadly I do not see this situation improving at all. It will get worse. Hang on!