wa-law.org > bill > 2023-24 > SB 6251 > Original Bill
Behavioral health administrative services organizations shall have the responsibility to coordinate the behavioral health crisis response and suicide prevention system within each regional service area, and the lead role in establishing a comprehensive plan for dispatching mobile rapid response crisis teams and community-based crisis teams. In furtherance of this:
The behavioral health administrative services organization shall be the primary system coordinator within each regional service area with the authority to convene regional behavioral health crisis response and suicide prevention system partners and stakeholders for the purpose of establishing clear regional protocols which memorialize expectations, understandings, lines of communication, and strategies for optimizing crisis response. The protocols must describe how crisis response and suicide prevention system partners will share information, which must include real-time information sharing between 988 contact hubs, regional crisis lines, or their successors, to create a seamless delivery system that is person-centered;
A behavioral health administrative services organization may designate the 988 contact hub or hubs which it determines to be the best fit for partnership in its regional service area once they have met necessary state and federal certification requirements. The 988 contact hub or hubs designated by the behavioral health administrative services organization in each regional service area must be able to collectively provide the full panoply of culturally appropriate behavioral health crisis response services established under this chapter. New hubs should only be designated when they are needed to fulfill an articulated need identified in the coordinated behavioral health crisis response and suicide prevention system protocol established by the behavioral health administrative services organization;
The department shall certify additional 988 contact hubs which are able to meet state and federal certification requirements upon request from a behavioral health administrative services organization and consistent with the need identified in the coordinated behavioral health crisis response and suicide prevention system protocol;
The department and the authority shall facilitate behavioral health administrative services organizations in their role as primary system coordinators of the coordinated behavioral health crisis response and suicide prevention system within each regional service area, including providing support in the development of protocols under subsection (1) of this section as requested by the behavioral health administrative services organization;
Protocols established under subsection (1) of this section must be in writing and copies shall be provided to the department, authority, and state 911 coordination office. Each protocol for each regional service area must be updated as needed and at intervals of no longer than three years; and
For the purpose of subsection (1) of this section, partners and stakeholders in the regional coordinated behavioral health crisis response and suicide prevention system include but are not limited to regional crisis lines, 988 contact hubs, certified public safety telecommunicators, local governments, tribal governments, first responders, co-response teams, hospitals, and behavioral health agencies.
Unless the context clearly requires otherwise, the definitions in this section apply throughout this chapter.
(1) Establishing the state designated 988 contact hubs and enhancing the crisis response system will require collaborative work between the department and, the authority, and regional system partners within their respective roles. The department shall have primary responsibility for establishing and designating the designated certifying 988 contact hubs. The authority shall have primary responsibility for developing and, implementing, and facilitating coordination of the crisis response system and services to support the work of the designated 988 contact hubs, regional crisis lines, and other coordinated behavioral health crisis response and suicide prevention system partners. In any instance in which one agency is identified as the lead, the expectation is that agency will be communicating and collaborating communicate and collaborate with the other to facilitate and support development and execution of protocols for regional coordination of behavioral health crisis response and suicide prevention services that ensure seamless, continuous, and effective service delivery within the statewide crisis response system.