CONTACT
Julie Naughton, Communications and Legislative Services, 402-471-1695 (office); 402-405-7202 (cell); julie.naughton@nebraska.gov
Lincoln – Nebraska applied and was selected as one of 23 states in a new crisis intervention registry project designed to reduce the time those with an acute psychiatric emergency wait to admit into inpatient psychiatric beds.
The psychiatric bed registries could be used by emergency departments, providers, and clinicians to quickly find available beds so people in need can gain access to treatment that is urgently needed. The registry funding is a joint project between the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) and the National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors (NASMHPD). Each participating state received a $150,000 grant. Nebraska is the only state in the Midwest to have been selected.
“Our goal is to provide critically important, safe and intensive care in the least restrictive setting for individuals with serious mental illnesses as quickly as we can, so they can begin the process of recovery," said Sheri Dawson, director of the Division of Behavioral Health for the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). Dawson is also currently serving as secretary of NASMHPD's board of directors.
Nebraska's registry will be piloted in the state's most populous behavioral health region, Region 6, which includes Cass, Dodge, Douglas, Sarpy and Washington counties in eastern Nebraska. “Region 6 has a diverse mix of publicly contracted hospitals and private hospitals, giving us the opportunity to capture real capacity issues and process variables," added Dawson. “Data from the pilot will be extremely helpful in analyzing the bed capacity, workforce, and system barriers to access. As the nation moves to alternate payment models such as value-based contracting, data collected over the course of the pilot may help to inform important innovations to payment structures that best supports efficient service delivery. We look forward to utilizing the pilot information to establish a statewide process. Nebraska will also have the opportunity to learn from the other 22 states as to best practices."
The Division of Behavioral Health and Region 6 will develop a workgroup, which will include representatives from the Region 6, DHHS, local emergency departments, public and private hospitals, law enforcement, behavioral health providers, county attorneys, community stakeholders and consumers with lived experience. The workgroup will develop a centralized, real-time system to track inpatient beds and assess capacity for inpatient psychiatric beds in the area.
Through the registry, the workgroup hopes to reduce the time that consumers wait at emergency departments for acute beds once the determination has been made that the consumer needs acute care, improve communication between emergency departments and acute hospitals, identify system issues such as placement of consumers with high needs such as violence, staffing issues, and increase consistency in capacity data reporting.
The planning process is just beginning. The current projection is that the pilot will be implemented in Region 6 during the summer of 2019.
Other states participating in the project include several states similar in population, such as New Mexico, West Virginia and Rhode Island, as well as Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York and Ohio.