Medi-Cal Mobile Crisis Training and Technical Assistance Center (M-TAC)

The Center for Applied Research Solutions (CARS) provides training and technical assistance to all 58 California counties to support the implementation of the new federal Medicaid mobile crisis benefit, through the Medi-Cal Mobile Crisis Training and Technical Assistance Center (M-TAC) project. Recent guidance from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) makes mobile crisis services billable at an enhanced rate, if delivered by qualifying response teams. The Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) contracted with CARS to ensure that all California counties are prepared to develop and implement mobile crisis response teams that meet federal standards.

Key changes included: 

• Mobile crisis teams must respond in person, in teams of two. 
• Each team member must be a qualified provider under state Medi-Cal guidelines.  
• Mobile crisis teams may standardly respond with law enforcement (the “co-responder” model) unless there are valid safety concerns.

In addition to changes to staffing models and response modalities, DHCS tasked CARS with leading a transformation of mobile crisis response.  The previous approach to mobile crisis care prioritized level-of-care evaluations in which responders determined whether an individual needed a higher level of care or could safely remain in the community.  The new model recognizes mobile crisis response itself as an effective intervention and prioritizes de-escalation and stabilization in the field.  The goal is to reduce unnecessary usage of emergency rooms, psychiatric facilities, and law enforcement.

CARS has developed and delivered more than 40 trainings, many of which are required learning for mobile crisis teams, and dozens of communities of practice for California’s mobile crisis workforce. CARS led the development of three standardized tools for dispatch/triage, crisis assessment, and safety planning that are now required by all mobile crisis teams operating under the benefit.  We have worked with every California county individually and regionally to recruit, train, and sustain a workforce of qualified, committed mobile crisis staff.