Minutes 01-23-2024 - Assembly of Governments

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10 Shenekia Weeks said they would use that feedback to make improvements to the dashboard. She said that they are in the process of getting the data out, but it will continue to be updated. 2. Behavioral Health Diversion Facility Update In April 2019, more than 30 community stakeholders from the criminal justice system, healthcare, behavioral health system, and housing came together to participate in an Orange County Sequential Intercept Mapping (SIM) Workshop facilitated by the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services. The SIM process is designed to inform and address community-based responses to the involvement of individuals with behavioral health issues and intercepts with the criminal justice system. One of the gaps that was identified through this analysis was the need for a Crisis/Diversion facility to divert individuals in behavioral health crisis from the criminal justice system and the Emergency Departments at UNC Hospitals to a more appropriate and less expensive setting. Later in 2019, a Crisis Diversion Facility Subcommittee was formed and tasked with developing recommendations and a plan for a dedicated facility. In December 2022, the Orange County Board of Commissioners approved a contract with CPL Architects and RHA Health for$172,325 to provide preliminary/advanced planning services necessary for the development of a Crisis Diversion Facility serving Orange County residents. The scope of work included a review of existing planning and development information, and the development of programming documents, a preliminary/ schematic design, site requirements and budget estimates. The culmination of this work was presented to stakeholders during two engagement sessions in April 2023. The preliminary conceptual design represented a 29,000 square foot facility designed to offer Behavioral Health Urgent Care services for assessment, stabilization, treatment, peer support and discharge planning for patients experiencing a Behavioral Health crisis, such as for mental illness and substance use disorders. Behavioral Health Urgent Care Services are intended to be available for patients 4 years old and older. The facility is also designed to provide Facility Based Crisis services for adults for up to two weeks and will include security required for some patients and for justice-involved individuals. The facility will provide Behavioral Health crisis services to walk-in patients on a 24/7/365 basis and offer associated urgent, but non-critical, medical care if necessary. Finally, the facility will include a peer living room, a resource information center and will provide space for partner agencies that support housing, social services, food insecurity, harm reduction, domestic violence and sexual assault survivors and many other critical determinants of health and well-being. The Orange County Board of Commissioners approved $2,047,155 for design services in FY2023-24. The County's Capital Investment Plan anticipates a total construction budget of $22,952,845. The County is currently conducting due diligence on a potential site located in the Town of Hillsborough and has begun working with Town staff on the appropriate entitlement process. The County is also working with subject matter experts, including Alliance Health, on calculating the cost of ongoing operations. Behavioral Health Urgent Care Services are not fully billable services on public or private health care plans, so an operating subsidy will likely be necessary without changes to those health care plans. That subsidy is currently estimated to be approximately $2.8 million annually. Additional information is available at https:Horangecountync.gov/3168/Crisis-Diversion-Facility.