Proposition 56 Behavioral Health in ER
Overview
Hospital
Emergency Departments (ED) are at the front line of responding to individuals
with substance use disorders (SUD) and mental illness (MI). Patients with SUD
and MI are more likely to have high ED utilization and hospitalization rates, and
as such, hospitals EDs are an ideal setting for increasing access to treatment.
The Behavioral Health in ER effort, or Behavioral Health Pilot Project (BHPP),
aims to expand on the efforts of the California Bridge Program, which was first
initiated under DHCS’ Medication Assisted Treatment (MAT) Expansion Project.
The purpose of the BHPP is to further expand development of ED-based behavioral
health services in California’s general acute care hospitals. The California
State Legislature appropriated $20 million to DHCS to integrate trained
behavioral health counselors in EDs and build capacity for improved treatment
of SUD and co-occurring MI.
In February 2020, DHCS released a Request for
Application available to all general acute care hospitals. In September 2020,
DHCS awarded up to $100,000 each to more than 200 general acute care hospitals
to be expended through June 30, 2022. Awarded hospitals will be reporting
several data metrics to DHCS, including: the number of people with a behavioral
health diagnosis seen by month in the ED by the funded behavioral health
counselor; the number of people provided MAT in the ED by month; and
number of individuals receiving referrals by month to ongoing care at MAT
capable clinics, mental health services, residential treatment, and other
support services.
Current Materials
