Regional health systems AOT program - regional health systems (RHS) is applying for the FY2024 assisted outpatient treatment (AOT) program for individuals with serious mental illness grant to…

Regional health systems AOT program - regional health systems (RHS) is applying for the FY2024 assisted outpatient treatment (AOT) program for individuals with serious mental illness grant to develop an AOT program for our service population. The focus population for the AOT program are persons living with serious mental illness (SMI) and/or CO-occurring disorders that are under outpatient civil commitment who meet indiana's AOT criteria. These individuals will be involved in local civil, criminal, and/or drug courts, who are at risk for psychiatric hospitalization, incarceration or homelessness without this commitment. RHS will use this grant funding to develop an AOT program for our service population, and intends to offer community and office-based treatment and support to individuals in need at any time. In alignment with the development of the AOT program, RHS will utilize both the forensic assertive community treatment (FACT) and the adult intensive rehabilitation services (AIRS) treatment models. These models will allow RHS to offer integrated care through structured and intensive rehabilitation services, including but not limited to case management, psychiatric care, medical and nursing care, therapy and substance use services. RHS will be able to effectively triage incoming requests for services, based on assessment of clinical need, violence, suicide and safety risk, and possible need for stabilization treatment through our inpatient psychiatric unit or residential substance abuse units. A critical task for the AOT staff will be to effectively engage persons who are under commitment, who have struggled with voluntary treatment adherence in the past, to take an active role in their treatment, as well as engagement with families or persons providing support to the identified patient. Another proponent of the AOT program will be maintaining communication between the courts and treatment team, ensuring both sides are apprised of the client's legal and treatment status. Each AOT participant will be evaluated at the end of the commitment period to determine whether the commitment will be extended, or if the client will be released and transitioned to voluntary outpatient treatment, where RHS will monitor client to ensure that they remain stable and treatment-compliant. The goals of this project include maximizing the use of our resources and partnering with local court administrators, law enforcement and community partners to serve as a resource for SMI individuals who are facing criminal and/or civil charges without treatment adherence. With the development of our AOT program, RHS will increase the rate of treatment compliance among adults with SMI under civil commitment, and will monitor participant outcomes, including rates of homelessness, recidivism and hospitalization. To track the success and sustainability of the AOT program, we will measure the following objectives: medication compliance, treatment plan compliance, active service utilization, and referrals to community partners. We anticipate serving 204 unduplicated clients over the award period: year 1 (51 clients), year 2 (51 clients), year 3 (51 clients) and year 4 (51 clients).