When Will Policy Catch Innovation?
When I was a kid my dad would always tuck me in with that story about the tortoise and the hare and even though I knew the ending I would still wonder, hopeful, if the tortoise would catch up. I’ve had the same questions recently about health policy in the US, particularly related to mental health. There has been a great deal of progress in the last 10 years but there remain gaps. This special report addresses many of them. Like did you know that about 20% of the calls into the 988 crisis line for mental health go unresolved, largely because there’s no local option to direct the person to? The 988 system is a great service and it’s making strides. But a lot of people in crisis still call 911, and only some of those responders are trained and knowledgeable enough to transition the person over to 988. As with any new system, this should improve. In Houston, a 911 and 988 crisis center co-locate responders, and this is having better results. These details and others in our special report on “The Behavioral Health Ecosystem, When Will Policy Catch Up To Innovation?”