Forensic Psychiatry - Summit Behavioral Healthcare 

Inpatient Forensic Unit Evaluations

Summit Behavioral Health Care, a behavioral health organization within the Ohio Department of Mental Health, is the largest freestanding psychiatric facility in Ohio. It provides services to 350 patients on a daily basis. Summit is among the most highly accredited facilities in Cincinnati and Southwest Ohio with respect to JCAHO, Medicare, and Medicaid surveys. The Center is host to a number of programs that have won state and national awards, including Psychiatric Hospital of the Year for 2000 by NAMI - Ohio.

The hospital completed building an entirely new facility at a cost of $46 million in July 2006.

The inpatient population is substantially forensic as measured in the 55% of total bed-days utilized by persons under criminal court jurisdiction. 32% of total bed-days are for Restoration to Competency (RTC) of persons charged with but not yet adjudicated for a crime or treatment of those acquitted as Not Guilty by Reason of Insanity (NGRI). Moreover, throughout the year, patients are admitted to forensic units for inpatient evaluations of either competency or sanity.

The fellows serve as independent consultants to the hospital, evaluating inpatients for dangerousness, violence, risk assessment, competency to stand trial, and NGRI as well as writing reports on these patients to the court. In addition, the fellows testify as experts in court on selected cases.

Mock Trial and Video Conference

The fellowship participates in a biweekly interactive forensic videoconference series hosted by Case Western Reserve University Forensic Psychiatry Fellowship Program Director Phil Resnick, M.D. or other faculty. The fellows participate in mock trials and case confernces. This videoconference is provided on site in the Summit Behavioral Auditorium.