3 Ways the 988 Implementation Act Can Revolutionize Crisis Response

ICYMI: Last week?Congressman Cardenas' (CA-29) and Congressman Fitzpatrick’s (PA-1) reintroduced?the?“988 Implementation?Act”?-?legislation aimed?at?revolutionizing?crisis response for mental health?emergencies?in America?by?providing?federal funding and guidance to?states?for implementing crisis response infrastructure and Certified Community Behavioral Health Centers (CCBHCs).?

Our VP of Government Affairs,? Chris Santarsiero, M.B.A. , broke down the?three?things you need to know about this game-changing piece of?bi-partisan?legislation and the impact it?could?have on the crisis continuum.??

Crisis services for all?

The act calls for expanding the coverage of crisis response services under Medicare programs?and mandating crisis services under Medicaid, ensuring that mental health or substance use services are available to individuals, including children and adolescents, experiencing crises. It also includes crisis response services as an Essential Health Benefit under various health care acts, such as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, Tricare Coverage, FEHB, and CHIP.?

Crisis response services are defined as “mental health or substance use services that are furnished by a mobile crisis response team, a crisis?receiving?and stabilization facility, mental health or substance use urgent care facility, or other appropriate provider, as determined by the Secretary, to an individual, including children and adolescents, experiencing a mental health or substance use crisis.”

Removing barriers to care?

The act shrinks?the?Medicaid Institutions for Mental Diseases (IMD)?Exclusion?and requires the Secretary of HHS to issue guidance that crisis stabilization units (as described in Section 1905(a)(1) of the Social Security Act) are excluded from the prohibition specified in paragraph (1) of 1905(a).?

The IMD exclusion prohibits “payments with respect to care or services for any individual who has not attained 65 years of age and who is a patient in an institution for mental diseases” except for “inpatient psychiatric hospital?services for individuals under age 21.”?

More data to deliver better care?

The act also mandates the HHS Secretary to submit a Congressional report addressing the?utilization of facility-based crisis services, including the number of patients served, type and duration of facility-based services, linkages to community-based resources and information on the total number of law enforcement drop-offs and other data relevant for diverting mental health and substance use disorder emergencies from law enforcement response.?

At Connections, we?know how critical it is to have a “safe place to go” as part of the crisis continuum and we applaud the efforts of all legislators involved in?reintroducing?the “988 Implementation Act”.?Connections is actively?working with Congressional Leaders and the Administration on a behavioral health crisis continuum demonstration project. Our goal is to?establish?a Medicare fee-for-service program that covers and defines behavioral health crisis services, evaluates the covered services, and sets standards of treatment. This initiative will pave the way for consistent licensing, accreditation, reimbursement, planning, and categorization of crisis receiver and stabilization facilities,?similar to?how Emergency Room Trauma Centers are categorized based on the levels of care they provide. We believe this is a crucial step towards improving mental health crisis response and ensuring better outcomes for those in need.?