CREOKS Mental Health Services, Inc.

PROJECT PURPOSE

We are proposing to build and operate a Crisis Diversion Center in the city of Wagoner located in a Qualified Census Tract of Wagoner County. We are the state contracted mental health provider for the indigent for Adair, Cherokee, Creek, Okfuskee, Okmulgee, Sequoyah, and Wagoner Counties. Most recent OSDH vital statistics indicates a cost of over $31 million in psychiatric hospitalizations a year for our catchment area. We served almost 1,000 people needing hospital diversion last year. This crisis center could serve adults in our service area saving the state millions of dollars. This 8 crisis bed and 8 recliner urgent care would reduce the trauma of a psychiatric crisis by keeping people closer to home, reduce first responder burden, and promote swifter recovery. This center is projected to serve over 500 adults a year.

EVIDENCE

We have operated another crisis center in a different part of the state for the last 7 years. We calculate that in the last 3 years we have diverted over 3,000 people from an unneeded hospitalization and saved the state more than $10 million. These crisis diversion centers are considered by the Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services the standard of care for initially addressing crisis situations. Unfortunately, the state does not have the funding to establish enough of these crisis centers to offset the demand. This has become particularly acute during COVID-19.

POPULATION DESCRIPTION

This crisis center is to address vulnerable adults without insurance or on Medicaid with a mental health or substance abuse crisis. This has become particularly acute during COVID where we recorded a 683% increase in hospital bed days- not crisis center beds- in our catchment area during 2020. Mental Health America (MHA) reported that 59% of Oklahomans living with a mental illness did not receive treatment in 2020 due to COVID. At the same time, MHA reported a 93% increase in people looking for help with anxiety and a 62% increase in people looking for help with depression. While the national suicide rate fell by 5.6% during 2020, OSDH data indicates that Oklahoma experienced a 22% increase in suicides between 2019 and 2020. Due to the seriousness of suicide in ODMHSAS convened a statewide summit on 4/30/2021 and charged all providers to prioritize suicide prevention, screening, and treatment services. This center is to meet that identified need and reduce suicides in Oklahoma.

PERFORMANCE MEASURING

Through our electronic health record, we can collect data on beneficiaries? income as well as address to report persons in a Qualified Census Tract and target income level. We have sophisticated financial tracking to report the use of obligated funds as required by the US Department of Treasury. Program outcomes will track: persons served, 25% reduction in catchment area hospitalizations year 1 and 50% reduction in catchment area hospitalizations year 2; reduction in suicide deaths in our counties by 10%, 85% of persons discharged will not seek crisis services within 180 days, 30-day readmission rate < 3%.

ONGOING INVESTMENT AMOUNT

$

ONGOING INVESTMENT DESCRIPTION

None

ONGOING INVESTMENT REQUIRED

Able to continue operation without additional funding from the State of Oklahoma