The safety net portal is an effort recommended by the Montgomery County Behavioral Health Task Force, which the Montgomery County commission formed last year in partnership with GDAHA.
The commission approved up to $328,318 through March 2025 for the first two phases of the safety net portal project last week.
“If all works as it should, there won’t be wrong doors, and that the individuals will get the right treatment sooner,” Montgomery County commissioner Carolyn Rice said last week. “It’s a win-win.”
Behavioral health is linked to mental health, but encompasses how everyday reactions, lifestyles, habits and more impact both physical and mental well-being. Hackenbracht said that crises like overdoses or suicide attempts are “critical intervention points” for medical staff treating a person.
“We have an opportunity to better connect outpatient and community care teams back to an individual in crisis as quickly as possible,” she said.
Montgomery County commissioners have previously pointed to the behavioral health portal as a tool that could equip staff seeing people at Montgomery County Jail.
Since 2019, hospitals in Montgomery County have seen a 26% increase in patient encounters for behavioral health needs in area emergency departments, with an additional 8.6% increase in patient encounters for substance use disorder, according to a report published by the county’s Behavioral Health Task Force last year.
In addition, nearly 20% of patients who receive care at an emergency department for behavioral health needs or substance use disorder are treated two or more times.
Those with mental health issues are overrepresented in the criminal justice system. For inmates with underlying mental health issues, county jails have often become the de facto treatment center, and limited physical and behavioral health resources have complicated people’s recovery and ability to be successful after their release, the task force found.
“For care providers, this system will bring together disparate data sources into a single portal to understand when and where a person is receiving treatment, critical details about medication, which care providers are engaged in their treatment, and relevant details that may tell a provider if this individual is under the management of the Probate Court or has a history with our criminal justice partners,” Hackenbracht said.
The first two phases of the project will lay the groundwork for the portal by gathering data and creating partnerships with area health care providers. The final stage of the project will include the design and creation of the referral system.
The county announced it was setting aside nearly $2 million in opioid settlement money to the project earlier this year.
“To see the portal move together in partnership with GDAHA and the hospitals… This is going to be huge,” Montgomery County administrator Michael Colbert said. “Especially for those providers. They’ve asked for this, and now we’re putting this in place.”
By the numbers:
26: The percentage increase in patient encounters for behavioral health needs in area emergency rooms
8.6: The percentage increase in patient encounters for substance abuse in area emergency rooms
328,318: The amount allotted to the beginning stages of the portal project
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