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AGENCY ASSISTANCE: Burrell Behavioral Health's Dustin Brown says the agency's rapid access unit, which opened last yera, has increased its clients served to nearly 180 per month.
McKenzie Robinson | SBJ
AGENCY ASSISTANCE: Burrell Behavioral Health's Dustin Brown says the agency's rapid access unit, which opened last yera, has increased its clients served to nearly 180 per month.

Care in a Crisis: Burrell center reports rising client numbers as it seeks sustained funding

Posted online

Burrell Behavioral Health officials say its rapid access unit launched last year in northwest Springfield is exceeding expectations in use for those needing immediate mental health or addiction assistance.

Burrell’s Behavioral Crisis Center, open 24/7 for ages 18 and older at 800 S. Park Ave., topped 2,400 clients in late November since opening, said Dustin Brown, Burrell Medical Group’s executive vice president. The medical group encompasses Burrell’s psychiatry, nursing, pharmacy and integrated care programs.

“It took us a little over 10 months to break the 1,000-client mark,” he said, noting the monthly client average has grown to nearly 180. “Walk-ins have been exceeding what we were expecting.”

Roughly 45% of the clients are self-referred or family-referred walk-ins, Brown said.

“We are reaching people and they are coming in instead of going to the emergency department or calling 911,” he said, adding individuals from 46 counties in the state have visited the center since its May 2020 opening.

Aside from the higher-than-anticipated client usage, Burrell officials point to financial savings among its community partners as a measure of success. In its first year of operation, the center saved law enforcement, first responders and hospital emergency departments between $4.4 million and $6.6 million. The care provided by the BCC includes long-term or acute stabilization for mental health or addiction disorders, and 26% of its clients were referred or diverted from emergency departments during the first year.

The financial savings to the community is based, in part, on data from the Community Crisis Center in Wichita, Kansas – one of several similar out-of-state facilities Burrell leaders visited for research prior to 2020.

“We know 20%-30% is about the range you can assume you’ve successfully diverted,” said Adam Andreassen, chief operating officer at Burrell, in reference to those who might otherwise need emergency medical or police attention.

In collaboration
The BCC is a community collaboration among Burrell and Springfield and Greene County medical and law enforcement agencies. Those include CoxHealth, Mercy Springfield Communities, the Springfield Police Department and the Greene County Commission.

Springfield Police Chief Paul Williams said the BCC has saved his department resources, such as time out of the field for officers responding to a person with a mental illness. In some instances, it can reduce the response times from hours to minutes, he said.

Williams said 9% of clients served by the center, equating to 216 individuals, have been diverted by the SPD.

“It has been a positive development and continues to be for not only SPD but for the persons who have been able to be connected to treatment and services, and diverted from the hospital or jail,” he said via email.

Brown said the intent of the center is to create a spot for comprehensive care. People can receive a clinical intake for all Burrell services, same-day psychiatry consultations and medication-assisted treatment services if misusing drugs or alcohol. They also are connected with resources such as outpatient psychiatry service or inpatient psychiatric care.

At the facility, Burrell accepts most insurance and Medicaid with a sliding fee scale for the uninsured, as well as grant funding available for those who qualify, officials say.

“Often, what keeps people from getting the care they need is they don’t know what doors to knock on,” Andreassen said, noting the average stay for clients is four to six hours. “That’s because they’re leaving with an appointment, and they feel better because they’ve got their next level of care in line.”

An investment of $1 million approved in 2019 by the Greene County Commission led to Burrell renovating its Park Center facility and covering staffing and administrative costs for the BCC. CoxHealth and Mercy Springfield Communities also made undisclosed investments in the project, with a $1.4 million, three-year grant provided by the Missouri Foundation for Health to fund operations.

Startup costs were roughly $2.3 million for the rapid access unit, which employs 45, according to Burrell officials.

Andreassen and Brown said securing sustained funding is an ongoing goal for Burrell, as the MFH grant is not renewable. They’re hopeful the center will receive continued financial support from Greene County, noting they meet quarterly with the commission to provide facility updates.

“There is not sustained and identified funding for crisis centers. The state is looking into that and over time that could change,” Andreassen said. “For the present and foreseeable future, this works really, really well. But it works really well because everybody from county to city to local partners like Cox and Mercy all recognize that it’s needed.”

High priority
Andreassen said the BCC serves Burrell’s overall mission but also addresses what the community believes is a top priority. Results from a 2019 Community Mental Health and Substance Abuse Assessment funded by the Missouri Foundation for Health noted over half of the contributing stakeholders said crisis services were among the most important needs in Greene County.

Additionally, residents surveyed this summer by the Greene County government voted for mental health services as the top priority for over $28 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds. The survey data, which gathered 1,179 responses and 645 written comments, will be used as part of the process for the county selecting recipients of ARPA funds that must be allocated by the end of 2024, according to past Springfield Business Journal reporting.

The need for mental health services is rising for clients at the Springfield chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness. Stephanie Appleby, executive director of NAMI Southwest Missouri Inc., said phone calls to the agency’s crisis help line are around 6,000 this year. The call volume was similar in 2020.

“That’s double the total we’d see in an average year,” she said, citing elevated anxiety levels throughout the coronavirus pandemic.

NAMI expanded in November to a 5,740-square-foot building – nearly double the space of its former home in the CoxHealth Medical Tower. The added space also triples its support group rooms to three, which includes an art therapy area.

Burrell’s vision for crisis centers is extending beyond Springfield. In August, the agency announced it would partner with stakeholders in Columbia to build one in the city patterned after its Springfield facility. Burrell officials say it will be funded through a public-private partnership, and land has been identified but is awaiting the green light from Boone County officials. Kansas City also is interested after Mayor Quinton Lucas visited the crisis center in June. Andreassen said Burrell leaders have started conversations with the city, but no concrete plan is in place.

“While there was an interest in crisis services before Burrell came and did this, we think that the success – especially the partnerships with the county, the commission and the health department – has worked so well that other municipalities and counties are looking at this as the model,” he said.

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Rising numbers? Why I just can’t imagine why? Weed storrs on every corner. Liquor stores in

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