By Adam Duvernay
The Register-Guard
SALEM, Ore. — Oregon is getting nearly $1 million in federal funds to support expanding community-based mobile crisis intervention services akin to Eugene’s CAHOOTS.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, is awarding the grants funded by the American Rescue Plan, the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 economic stimulus package Congress passed in March.
Oregon is one of 20 states receiving part of $15 million in planning grant awards. CMS awarded Oregon’s Medicaid program $952,951.
The grant money is meant to fund the development of programs across the country that reduce reliance on police by connecting people experiencing mental health and substance use crises with behavioral health specialist and critical treatment, according to a CMS news release.
The funding will allow state Medicaid agencies to assess communities’ needs and develop and initiate programs, with a goal “to connect individuals in crisis with the high-quality, expert care they need,” CMS Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure said.
Funds can be used to support a state’s assessment of its current services; strengthen capacity and information systems; ensure services are accessible 24 hours a day every day of the year; provide behavioral health care training for multi-disciplinary teams; or seek technical assistance to develop a State Plan Amendment, demonstration applications and waiver program requests under the Medicaid program.
“Providing behavioral health care experts as alternatives to police is an example of how we can better help communities deliver on the behavioral health needs of all its residents,” Brooks-LaSure said.
All states will be eligible for a temporarily enhanced matching rate for implementing a qualified mobile crisis intervention option in their Medicaid programs starting April 1.
[RELATED: Outcomes improve when law enforcement and mental health services combine forces]
The awards follow months of attention on White Bird Clinic’s Crisis Assistance Helping Out On The Streets, or CAHOOTS, program. A decades-old local program, CAHOOTS regularly has been cited as a successful example of improving outcomes by separating law enforcement from situations with people experiencing mental health emergencies.
Similar crisis programs exist elsewhere, such as the Street Crisis Response Team in San Francisco or the Support Team Assisted Response program in Denver.
CAHOOTS often was cited in police reform discussions over the past 18 months, part of the nationwide reaction to the 2020 murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer. While other states looked to CAHOOTS as a model for developing programs, area residents calling for police reform pushed for CAHOOTS to be bigger and better funded.
“These grants are a critical first step to helping communities across America re-imagine public safety by decriminalizing mental illness, connecting people with services they need and reducing the chances of violent encounters with law enforcement,” said Sen. Ron Wyden, who pushed for the grants to be included in the American Rescue Plan.
Wyden earlier this year introduced the CAHOOTS Act, which would let state Medicaid programs cover community-based mobile crisis intervention services. Rep. Peter DeFazio introduced the companion legislation in the U.S. House of Representatives.
“For years now, there’s been this growing tension of dealing with these very challenging situations on the streets of our country,” Wyden said. “The proven model comes from our state. It gives both mental health people and law enforcement the chance to focus on the work they’re trained for.”
CMS grant recipients are expected to complete their grant activities by Sept. 29, 2022. Alabama, California, Colorado, Delaware, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Maryland, Maine, Missouri, Montana, North Carolina, New Mexico, Nevada, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Utah, Vermont, Wisconsin and West Virginia also have been awarded planning grants.
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