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)