CMS approved California and Kentucky's requests for implementing community-based mobile crisis intervention teams to provide Medicaid-covered mental health and substance use crisis services, making a total of six states to adopt these crisis services.
Mobile crisis teams equipped with trained behavioral health professionals will be available 24/7 and year-round to provide quick response, individual assessment and crisis de-escalation.
The program, part of President Joe Biden's American Rescue Plan, aims to improve access to resources under Medicaid for individuals experiencing mental health crises, according to a July 20 news release from the HHS.
Twenty states have received grants to launch mobile crisis intervention units, and Oregon was the first to receive approval in September 2022.