ASHEVILLE, N.C. (828newsNOW) — An $1.4 million infusion of new state funds will help expand behavioral health urgent care services in Buncombe County, where statistics show local hospital emergency rooms treating a disproportionate number of people in mental health crises, the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services reported.
RHA Behavioral Health will receive the funds to expand the operating hours at its urgent care facilities, from 12 to 24 hours.
It’s part of a two-year, $15 million plan to invest in behavioral health urgent care as an alternative to treating people in mental health or substance abuse crises at hospital emergency rooms, DHHS officials announced Tuesday at a ribbon-cutting ceremony for a new behavioral health urgent care center in Rockingham County.
In all, nine counties will receive the new funds: Buncombe, Rockingham, Caldwell, Haywood, Onslow, Pitt, Rowan and Vance counties.
Buncombe County was chosen in part due to statistics, DHHS reported in response to questions from 828newsNOW.
In a study period from August to October 2023, Buncombe had an average of 26 adults per day being treated in hospital emergency rooms for behavioral health issues, such as mental health or substance abuses crises.
By that measure, it trailed only two much more populated counties in the statewide rankings, Mecklenburg County with an average of 41 adult patients per day, and Wake County with 38 adult patients per day, the DHHS said in its statement to 828newsNOW.
By expanding 24-hour access to mental health specialists, it means “getting people the right care at the right time and in the right setting,” department officials stated.
The department intends to increase behavioral health urgent care program capacity by 50 percent statewide. It’s part of larger, $835 million investment in behavioral health as part of the 2023 state budget, which set aside $130 million to improve crisis response systems.
Part of that effort was promoting the National Suicide and Crisis Lifeline (988) and the DHHS Peer Warmline (1-855-PEERS-NC). As the department noted in a press release this week, those resources give families a place to call when loved ones are in crisis, “but there are not always services available in the community to refer them to.”
The 24-hour urgent care centers are meant to improve that situation.
“When someone we love is struggling, we want them to receive the best care possible, in the most appropriate setting possible,” Kelly Crosbie, director of the DHHS Division of Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities and Substance Use Services said in a release.
“Thanks to the investments in our behavioral health system, we are greatly expanding the state’s capacity to provide specialized care for individuals experiencing a mental health or substance use crisis. We are truly building a pathway from crisis to care.”
“We’re building from the ground-up a behavioral health system that gives every North Carolinian someone to call, someone to respond, and somewhere to go for care,” DHHS Secretary Kody H. Kinsley said in the release.