Vermont's mental health urgent care initiative (muci) - behavioral health network of vermont, INC

DBA vermont care network (VCN) will support five of its network agencies in the initial implementation of mental health urgent care initiatives (muci) in their respective areas of the state. The overarching goal of muci is to serve youth and families (and adults in addison county) early in the crisis cycle to avoid further escalation and unnecessary need for higher levels of care. United counseling service of bennington county (UCS), counseling service of addison county (csac), lamoille county mental health services (lcmhs), howard center (HC) (chittenden county), and healthcare and rehabilitation services (hcrs) (windham county), will develop urgent care programs designed to meet the unique needs of their communities within the context of existing services. The lack of needed urgent care resources for mental health in vermont has reached a crisis. Even before the pandemic led to increased need and reduced inpatient bed capacity, acute shortages of options for people coping with crises led to frequent episodes of extended emergency department [ED] stays. Inspired by the successful pediatric urgent care for kids [puck] model at UCS, muci will include an expansion of puck in bennington county, and the development of four additional urgent care programs throughout vermont two of which will be similar to puck. Muci will aim to achieve three primary goals: 1) people participating in muci programs will demonstrate a decrease in acuity of referring symptoms upon discharge; 2) people supported by muci programs will reduce their use of emergency departments and hospitalization to manage mental health crises; and 3) people in the muci program who are admitted to the emergency department for mental health crises will experience decreased lengths of stay in the emergency department. In total, up to 335 vermonters will be supported through the initial implementation of muci.