Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Behavioral Health topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Board approves position to lead QA/QI work tied to consent decree paragraph 97
Summary
Baltimore's Board of Estimates approved creation of a quality assurance/quality improvement manager in the Mayor's Office of Overdose Response to support paragraph 97 consent-decree implementation; the item lists $161,465 in total funding.
The Board of Estimates on Wednesday approved a new position in the Mayor's Office of Overdose Response to manage quality assurance and quality improvement work required by paragraph 97 of BaltimoreCity's consent decree.
Sarah Whaley, executive director of the Mayor's Office of Overdose Response, told the Board the QA/QI program manager position will "develop and implement a multi-agency quality assurance/quality improvement process" described in paragraph 97 of the consent decree and the associated implementation plan. Whaley said the role will identify gaps in behavioral health crisis response, evaluate 911 and 988 call data, on-scene referrals and mobile crisis runs, and conduct semi-annual random audits of behavioral-health CAD incidents.
The item, SB2512752, was listed on the agenda with $161,465. Comptroller Bill Henry asked if that figure represented salary plus other personnel costs; staff confirmed it included salary and OPCs, while noting the transcript did not provide a separate base salary figure. Board members and the city solicitor referenced the consent decree and monitoring team's advocacy for an internal coordinator to measure progress across multiple agencies.
City officials said the position is intended to avoid duplicative monitoring within a single agency and to ensure independent oversight of multi-agency consent-decree requirements. The Board approved the creation of the position by voice vote.
Why this matters: Paragraph 97 requires the city to identify gaps in behavioral-health services and recommend and implement systemwide solutions; the new position will support multi-agency coordination, data review and implementation work tied to the consent-decree monitoring team.
