Adult mobile response services are a critical resource, providing on-location support for people experiencing a behavioral health crisis. As communities across Ohio enhance their mobile crisis systems, they are exploring how to establish standardized payment methods to ensure these critical services remain accessible and high-quality.
Clear Pathways is working to ensure sustainable funding for adult mobile response services. By bringing together behavioral health providers from a representative sample of 20 Ohio counties, Clear Pathways is shaping a standard definition and payment approach for these services.
A new fact sheet, “Strengthening Ohio’s Payment Approach for Sustainable Adult Mobile Response Services,” highlights Clear Pathways’ two-phased strategy to advance definition and payment standardization.
What Are Mobile Response Services?
Mobile response services meet people experiencing a behavioral health crisis at home or in their community. Mobile response services can be delivered individually by a social worker, mental health clinician, law enforcement officer, or some combination. Mobile response service providers work to assess and de-escalate behavioral health emergencies, connect people in crisis to treatment, and provide post-crisis follow-up.
What Is Clear Pathways’ Approach to Standardizing Definitions and Payment?
Clear Pathways is employing a two-phased approach to develop a standard definition and optimal payment approach for adult mobile response services across Ohio.
- In Phase I, Clear Pathways is gathering critical insights about providers’ mobile response programs and assessing alignment with national best practices.
- In Phase II, Clear Pathways will analyze the cost of operating mobile response services, considering geographic factors, variations in service models, and program-specific differences.
During Phase I, Clear Pathways experts are interviewing Ohio providers who deliver mobile crisis services to adults. The interviews will help glean insight into each provider’s system coordination, staffing structures, funding considerations, and service delivery models and assess alignment with national guidelines and best practices. After the interview, providers receive a detailed report outlining a summary of their service operations and actionable recommendations.
To learn more about Clear Pathways’ approach, download the fact sheet!
