Decades-old rule pushes mentally ill Coloradans out of hospitals too soon. Legislators may finally change it.

For patients who need more care, shorter stays exacerbate their illness. If they’re not fully stabilized, they may not understand the full breadth of their condition or the need to take medications, said Chelsea Wolf, the medical director for Denver Health’s inpatient psychiatric unit [and assistant professor of psychiatry at CU School of Medicine]. Mental illnesses are “chronic, debilitating illnesses,” she said, and they will worsen over time if they’re not treated correctly and consistently.