A court-appointed monitor will track West Virginia's progress in resolving overcrowding at its public psychiatric hospitals and other problems with mental health care.

Kanawha County Circuit Judge Duke Bloom made the order Thursday. Bloom's order will transform the Office of the Ombudsman for Behavioral Health, which reports to the state Department of Health and Human Resources, into a court monitor position.

The court monitor will be responsible to Bloom and will report to him regularly on the state's handling of mental health care.

Bloom's order comes as the state is reaching agreement with petitioning attorneys over mental health care.

Persistent overcrowding at the hospitals in Huntington and Weston led to the current development in the case, which dates to the 1980s.