Assisted outpatient treatment: a pathway to community care - project name: assisted outpatient treatment: a pathway to community care at present, the assisted outpatient treatment (AOT) pathway to…

Assisted outpatient treatment: a pathway to community care - project name: assisted outpatient treatment: a pathway to community care at present, the assisted outpatient treatment (AOT) pathway to mental health care in illinois is widely considered to be severely "underutilized." therefore, the purpose of this program is to develop and operationalize a replicable and effective structure to increase the utilization of AOT as a step-down transition from inpatient to community-based care. A host of reasons including lack of familiarity with the statutorily established process, fragmented communication amongst key stakeholders, inadequate process coordination, and limited case management resources have all been cited as reasons for this current underuse. Consequently, many individuals end up cycling through emergency medicine settings, inpatient units, and even the criminal justice system. In response, the proposed project seeks to improve the coordination of care between respondents, courts, hospital systems, and community providers through AOT. The project focuses on two illinois counties; cook county and mclean county. Cook county is the largest county in the state of illinois with a population of 5.2 million people and includes the city of chicago, the third largest city in the nation with 2.7 million residents. In comparison, mclean county is largely rural, with a population estimated at 173,000. Despite the variations in population, each county has identified a need to regularize AOT as a key strategy to improving continuity of care for individuals living with serious mental illnesses. Through establishing local project teams including the courts, the illinois department of human services, county officials, healthcare systems, community mental health centers, and social service providers, along with a dedicated project director, attorneys, coordinator/case managers, and peer support resources, the project intends to serve a minimum of 231 individuals within the AOT program. Secondarily, the project aims to create an "AOT in illinois toolkit" to assist communities and courts across the state in establishing and operationalizing AOT as a strategy to improve continuity of care and treatment adherence for individuals living with serious mental illnesses. In doing so, the following project goals have been identified: • goal 1: strengthen the existing infrastructure in cook and mclean counties that are responsible for managing, coordinating, developing, planning, and supporting the effective administration of AOT processes and programming. • goal 2: reduce reliance on institutional settings through increased use of AOT as a pathway to community care. • goal 3: conduct ongoing quantitative and qualitative program assessment to inform operational best practices and respondent outcomes. • goal 4: increase statewide education on AOT through outreach and training for court, treatment, and community members.