Oregon’s Medicaid Program will receive nearly $1 million dollars in federal grants to support mobile crisis intervention services, like Eugene’s CAHOOTS.
Oregon joins 19 other states that have been awarded a combined total of $15 million in planning grants.
U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden said this is the first stage in launching similar programs like CAHOOTS across the country. The idea is to reduce police encounters during mental health crises.
“So often I heard law enforcement say ‘you know we really aren't trained for a lot of this’, and mental health people to say ‘you know we’re not trained to do law enforcement,’” he said.
“The proven model that comes from our state gives both mental health people and law enforcement the chance to focus on the work they’re trained for.”
State medicaid agencies received grant funding from the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan.
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