Arkansas DHS outlines plan for statewide mobile crisis hub, three-region pilot

Janet Mann, deputy of health and Medicaid director for the Arkansas Department of Human Services, told the Senate Public Health, Welfare and Labor Committee that DHS is developing a statewide mobile crisis response system that would connect Arkansans in behavioral-health emergencies to local mobile crisis teams.

"This is the system that will connect you to a mobile crisis team," said Melissa Weatherton, division director for Developmental Disability Services, summarizing the proposed model that DHS staff developed with vendor Guidehouse. DHS officials said the system would serve people on Medicaid, Medicare and private insurance, and would include children, adults and people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

DHS described two funding streams supporting the work. Weatherton said Arkansas received approximately $151 million in federal ARP-related funding tied to a Medicaid opportunity referenced in the presentation as "ARP 98 17," and that about $115 million of those funds were distributed directly to providers to recruit and retain staff. DHS officials said the remaining award and state ARP dollars are being used to build program infrastructure, including this crisis response…