Bill introduced to improve crisis response for people with MI, SUDs

Abstract

The Partnership to End Addiction is urging support for the CAHOOTS Act (S. 764/H.R. 1914), according to a May 8 release. The program provides an appropriate crisis response for people with mental illness and substance use disorders. The Crisis Assistance Helping Out on the Streets (CAHOOTS) program in Eugene, Oregon, has been providing this type of response for over 30 years. It dispatches mobile teams of health care and crisis workers, rather than police, to respond to individuals experiencing mental health or substance use disorder crises. The CAHOOTS Act would provide states with enhanced Medicaid funding to adopt their own community‐based mobile crisis services, as well as $25 million for grants to states to help establish, expand and evaluate mobile crisis programs (see MHW, June 22, 2020; Sept. 28, 2020). Jails and prisons are overcrowded with people arrested for minor, nonviolent offenses who would be better served through health and social services, the release stated. While often the default first responders, police are not adequately prepared to appropriately respond to behavioral health crises. Too often, police encounters with individuals with mental illness end tragically. The partnership is urging the public to send a letter to members of Congress to urge them to take action on this issue by co‐sponsoring the CAHOOTS Act to expand health care–based responses to crises related to mental health and substance use disorders, promote racial justice and reduce police violence.