Posting Language
Title
Authorize negotiation and execution of an amendment to the interlocal agreement with the Austin Travis County Mental Health Mental Retardation Center d/b/a Integral Care for the Expanded Mobile Crisis Outreach Team to provide mental health crisis services in collaboration with City first responders, to add one-time funding in an amount not to exceed $1,460,340, for a revised total agreement amount not to exceed $17,786,485. Funding: $1,460,340 is available in the Fiscal Year 2024-2025 Budget Stabilization Reserve Fund.
De
Lead Department
Community Court.
Fiscal Note
Funding in the amount of $1,460,340 is included in the Fiscal Year 2024-2025 Budget Stabilization Reserve Fund.
Prior Council Action:
August 14, 2024 - Council adopted the Fiscal Year 2024-2025 Operating Budget, including Council Amendment Alter R-5 to allocate $1,460,340 to expand the Expanded Mobile Crisis Outreach Team (EMCOT) to 24/7 operations on a 10-1 vote.
September 14, 2023 - Council authorized negotiation and execution of an interlocal agreement with Integral Care for the EMCOT on an 8-0 vote.
For More Information:
Robert Kingham, Court Administrator, Downtown Austin Community Court (512) 974-1394.
Additional Backup Information:
Approval of this item will authorize Amendment No. 2 to the interlocal agreement with Integral Care for the Expanded Mobile Crisis Outreach Team (EMCOT) to add funding in the amount of $1,460,340 beginning on April 1, 2025. The EMCOT works with the City of Austin first responders to divert jail bookings and emergency department (ED) admissions, provide short-term community-based interventions to stabilize a person in a psychiatric crisis, and link these individuals to Integral Care services or other appropriate care in the community. EMCOT consists of a multidisciplinary team of mental health professionals who operate with a high level of autonomy in a community-based setting, assess current medications, prescribe medications, and exercise professional judgement. This additional funding will allow for the EMCOT Field Response Team to expand operations to 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Amendment No. 1 exercised the first extension option in the amount of $3,265,229 for the period of October 1, 2024, to September 30, 2025.
The original agreement was approved for a term of 12 months ending on September 30, 2024, in an amount not to exceed $3,265,229, with four 12-month extension options each in an amount not to exceed $3,265,229, for a total agreement amount not to exceed $16,326,145.
The EMCOT model was designed in collaboration with public safety partners to best meet the needs of individuals experiencing a mental health crisis and the community. It recognizes the respective resources each public safety partner provides to the community should be optimized. In addition to reducing time on scene for first responders, EMCOT deploys mental health expertise to the often complex and challenging psychiatric emergencies to increase the likelihood of efficient, effective and positive outcomes for this type of specialized response.
Disposition options for law enforcement and Emergency Medical Services (EMS) are costly to the system, traumatizing for the individual, unnecessarily restrictive, and can include emergency detention, arrest, use of force, and/or transport to the nearest emergency department. Additionally, these dispositions can interrupt or conflict with an individual’s existing mental health treatment plan and break the continuity of care. Arrest dispositions are especially disruptive to an individual’s ongoing treatment because Medicaid coverage is suspended until the individual is released.
The goals of EMCOT are to:
1) In the absence of a public safety issue or a medical emergency, EMCOT strives to release the first responder from the scene within the first 10-15 minutes of arrival so that they may go back to being available for public safety and other medical emergencies;
2) Perform evidenced-based crisis assessments including risk to harm self/others;
3) Link the individual to the most appropriate level of care and/or ensure continuity of care;
4) Prevent the overuse and misuse of emergency room admissions, incarceration and peace officer’s emergency detentions to a more appropriate level of care for the individual;
5) Ensure individuals in our community receive professional mental health services from the time they call 911 to the time a mental health professional arrives to assist and support;
6) Enhance service array by providing telehealth services to expand the scope of calls that EMCOT can respond to and decrease wait time for EMCOT’s arrival;
7) Provide services in an individual’s preferred language when the need is a language other than English; and
8) Provide mental health training to first responder partners
Integral Care developed a staffing plan to support the EMCOT expansion, which incorporates recruitment strategies such as enhanced benefits for crisis clinicians, including crisis stipend pay, shift differentials, and on-call pay. These strategies have proven successful in retaining the existing EMCOT team, and ensuring stability and continuity in service delivery. By implementing this staffing plan and building on current recruitment and retention efforts, EMCOT will be able to scale its operations effectively. This expansion will ensure continuous support for individuals experiencing psychiatric crisis, improve response times, reduce strain on first responders, and enhance overall outcomes for those in need of immediate mental health care.