The Beacon Difference – Mobile Assessment Team Program
THE PROBLEM
Caregivers – from primary care practitioners (PCPs) to nursing home staff – need
rapid, onsite clinical evaluations and assessments of their patients in behavioral
crisis. Without that assistance, often times patients are sent to hospital emergency
rooms, receiving both expensive and at times clinically inappropriate care.
THE BEACON SOLUTION
The Mobile Assessment Team (MAT) program was created in collaboration with our health
plan partners and behavioral health provider network. MAT teams respond within 60
minutes to conduct an onsite evaluation of members in crisis no matter where they
are – at a doctor’s office, at home, in a nursing home, or even at work. The goal
of the program is to get members the most appropriate treatment in the least restrictive
setting possible.
By offering an alternative to emergency room treatment, the MAT program succeeds
in both increasing members’ days in community and reducing costs. Staffed by cross-functional
teams of mental health and substance abuse experts, MATs are divided into three
distinct specialty groups – adult, child and geriatric.
Based on our level-of-care criteria, MAT teams provide a comprehensive assessment
of a member’s clinical condition by reviewing mental status and precipitating and
proximal events leading to the crisis. Based on the assessment, the MAT offers medication
suggestions and renders an LOC disposition.
BEACON’S RESULTS
By analyzing the results of 86 MAT responses for the last half of 2006, we found
that MAT achieved a 79% diversion rate from acute services. These MAT interventions
led to 745 more days in the community for these members and a financial savings
of over $320,000.
A random survey of 22 PCPs who had been involved in one or more of the 86 cases
found the providers very pleased: 91% reported they were “very satisfied” or “extremely
satisfied” with the program. Said one doctor: “I was out of my league with this
patient and it felt good to have this as a resource.” Here are some other PCP comments
from our survey:
- “In my busy practice it is hard to take the time a patient with psychiatric distress
needs, and the team coming into my office gave me a good sense what this patient
needed.”
- “I was amazed that the two or three times I used this service, the behavioral health
evaluator really did get here in less than an hour.”
- “This is a terrific support for both our plan members and for the medical staff
here because we are not always sure when a patient should be hospitalized. And when
in doubt, I used to send a patient to the ER. Now I don’t have to.”