Policy and operational recommendations

Background

In the late summer of 2022, the OIC and HCA called for participation in a multi-stakeholder workgroup (PDF 147.02KB) with the objective to recommend policy and operational changes to enable Commercial Insurance Coverage for Behavioral Health Crisis Service as emergency services per E2SHB1688.

In addition to the OIC and HCA, the following organizations  are represented and participating in the workgroup:

  • Behavioral Health – Administrative Services Organizations (BH-ASOs)
  • Behavioral Health Providers; Mobile Crisis Response providers and behavioral health crisis facilities
  • Commercial carriers

On November 8, 2022, the workgroup reached consensus on a set of recommendations to achieve the following goal:

“To the extent possible, maintain the Behavioral Health Crisis System as it currently exists so that 1) the inclusion of Commercial Coverage is seamless from the perspective of the patient and ideally of the provider and 2) and new/additional administrative burden and/or cost to the provider is minimized.“

Between November 8th and the present, the Policy and Operational Recommendations continue to be refined for each of the services below

Links to Related Documents (for History and Audit Trail of Changes)

About 1688 behavioral health crisis services

With the passage of the Engrossed 2nd Substitute House Bill – E2SHB 1688 by the Washington state legislature in 2022, commercial carriers, along with managed Medicaid organizations (MCOs), will now provide insurance coverage for behavioral health crisis services as emergency services:

  • Mobile Crisis Response Services
  • Crisis Facility Services; Hospital Emergency Room, Evaluation & Treatment (E&T), Crisis Stabilization, Crisis Triage and Withdrawal Management

The OIC and HCA pulled together a multi-stakeholder workgroup (PDF 147.02KB) to recommend how to build upon the current Behavioral Health Crisis System to implement the new law.

Carriers, BH-ASOs, agencies and facilities

To find active Mobile Crisis Response Agencies/Providers, the BH-ASO in the associated Region should be the primary source of information.

As a secondary source for Mobile Crisis Response Agencies / Providers, access Department of Health (DOH) list of Behavioral Health Agencies, either via their Directory or their “Green Book” interactive tool.  (Agencies/ providers in DOH’s list may not be Active.)

To confirm that the license of an agency / provider is still active, access DOH’s Credential Search.
 		 Click Below for:

DOH Directory

DOH Interactive Selection Tool

DOH Credential Search
To find active Behavioral Health Crisis Service Facilities / Providers, access Department of Health (DOH) list of Behavioral Health Facilities, either via their Directory or their “Green Book” interactive tool.  (Facilities/ providers in DOH’s list may not be Active.)

To confirm that the license of a facility / provider, access DOH’s Credential Search.		 Click Below for:

DOH Directory

DOH Interactive Selection Tool

DOH Credential Search
BH-ASOs (Behavioral Health – Administrative Services Organizations) mapped by the 10 geographical regions. Download

BH-ASO contact information (XLSX 14.13KB)

  

Carriers: Contact information for contracting point persons (XLSX 20.46KB)

  

Carriers: Clearinghouses (XLSX 24.20KB)

  
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