The goal for the hotline is to mirror 911 in its ability to link individuals to the right level of care sooner, she explained.
However, the panelists acknowledged that many states are not prepared for the launch of 988.
Fewer than half of the public health officials responsible for rolling out the hotline in their states felt confident that their jurisdiction was prepared, according to a June 2 report from the RAND Corporation.
Just under half of those surveyed said their jurisdictions had short-term crisis stabilization programs, and only 28% had urgent care units for mental health.
One advantage to 988 is that callers are supposed to be able to call, text, or chat online with an operator, but fewer than half of the officials surveyed said their states offer text communication and even fewer offer the option to chat online -- an essential option, researchers stressed, given the high rates of suicide among adolescents and young adults.
Colorado residents using cell phones with Illinois or Texas area codes would get routed to services in those states instead, for example.
It’s a problem that state and federal officials are still working to fix.
The state’s new Behavioral Health Administration, which oversees the crisis services network, “recognizes that many people in Colorado do not have a phone number with a Colorado area code” and suggested that people without an in-state area code instead dial Colorado’s crisis line, 1-844-493-8255. Another option is to text TALK to 38255.
though the hotline is scheduled to debut in July, the program, which is federally sanctioned and funded but left up to individual states to implement, was announced with little fanfare, so many people within and outside of the medical community likely are unaware of its existence.
In this article, we’ll take a quick look at what 988 is, why it’s needed, and some of the challenges the project will need to overcome to reach its full potential."
A soft opening? Want to see if all the bugs are out of the system before they publicize it? Last thing the Biden Administration needs is another botched program.
Example? Months later, there are still major formula shortages.
Thomas Sowell: There are no solutions, just trade-offs.
