News Releases

ODMH Acts on Behavioral Health RoundTable Recommendations

Members of the Behavioral Health RoundTable, a collaborative group of behavioral health professionals spearheaded by The Center for Health Affairs, know all too well that handling behavioral health cases in the emergency room can be challenging and time consuming. Efforts by this group to relieve pressure on local emergency departments got a big boost earlier this month from the Ohio Department of Mental Health, whose director, Tracy Plouck, announced that the state will give Cuyahoga County $1.8 million to support a 72-hour crisis unit for emergency department patients presenting with behavioral health issues.

In the fall of 2011 Director Plouck asked to hear recommendations from The Behavioral Health RoundTable and the grant-funded Woodruff Project Committee ― another community group that works to address behavioral health issues ― on how to better integrate psychiatric, alcohol and other drugs, and primary care needs for the Medicaid population. Plouck hoped to find a way to decrease costly emergency department visits and unnecessary hospitalizations to both private and state hospitals and support the delivery of integrated, less costly care for patients with behavioral health concerns. The groups’ recommendations included the idea of a 72-hour crisis unit to give providers the time they needed to stabilize and evaluate patients fully, develop a discharge plan and get patients connected with primary care providers to help manage other health issues.

In a press release, the Ohio Department of Mental Health said the “Seventy-two hour crisis units will provide psychiatric stabilization and acute detoxification in conjunction with integrated medical services and connection to community services. Comprehensive services in a more appropriate setting will improve care for vulnerable people and decrease the use of services in other costly settings, like emergency rooms.”

The $1.8 million investment is a one-time infusion of money made available from the performance bonus Ohio received for increasing the enrollment of eligible children in Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). If the pilot proves successful, the county will need to find a sustainable source of funding going forward.

For more information on the work being done by the Behavioral Health Round Table, contact Pam Waite at 216.255.3650 or pamela.waite@chanet.org.