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Wyden, Bonamici reinforce need for behavioral health coordination

Federal delegation secured funding for OBCC; tour new facility, highlight need to make the most of limited resources through coordination
U.S. Senator Ron Wyden and U.S. Congresswoman Suzanne Bonamici tour the Oregon Behavioral Health Coordination Center within the OHSU Mission Control Center. Wyden and Bonamici encouraged further investment in coordinating resources and providing behavioral health services. image is of the backs of the senators dressed professionally facing the data screens at OBCC at OHSU and standing with a crowd of OHSU officials.
U.S. Senator Ron Wyden and U.S. Congresswoman Suzanne Bonamici tour the Oregon Behavioral Health Coordination Center within the OHSU Mission Control Center. Wyden and Bonamici encouraged further investment in coordinating resources and providing behavioral health services. (OHSU)

U.S. Senator Ron Wyden and U.S. Congresswoman Suzanne Bonamici on Thursday at Oregon Health & Science University highlighted the need to invest in behavioral health services, particularly for youth.

Wyden and Bonamici toured the newly centralized Mission Control Center at Oregon Health & Science University, which monitors and tracks hospital and behavioral health bed and resource capacity across the state so that patients can receive the care they need no matter where they live. With the help of $800,000 in federal funding that the Oregon congressional delegation secured in the fiscal year 2023 federal budget, the space includes the Oregon Behavioral Health Coordination Center, or OBCC, which uses real-time data about available beds and services to efficiently place patients in inpatient behavioral health care.

“Right now, across our state, communities big and small are dealing with the significant impacts of the behavioral health crisis. We need proven solutions to get people the health care that they need right now,” Wyden said. “That is why I worked to help secure funding to support the creation of the Oregon Behavioral Health Coordination Center. It is vital for government agencies here in Oregon and health care providers across the state to come together with the same urgency and spirit of partnership that they did during the COVID-19 pandemic to maximize OBCC's proven value and benefits. This tool can help us provide lifesaving care to Oregonians suffering from urgent mental health and substance use disorders.”

“With collaboration and a commitment to serving the people of Oregon, we have an opportunity to make a meaningful difference in addressing our state’s behavioral health crisis,” Bonamici said. “Based on OHSU’s successful Oregon Medical Coordination Center, the Oregon Behavioral Health Coordination Center provides real-time information about where behavioral health beds are available in the metro region and throughout Oregon. With the OBCC, those in need of behavioral health care will spend less time waiting in emergency rooms and more time getting the health care they need. I enthusiastically supported federal funding for the OBCC and will continue to work together with federal, state, and local elected officials to follow the Center’s progress and support their important work.”

Coordinating care statewide

The OHSU Mission Control Center houses the technology and teams that manage OHSU Health system capacity, OBCC and the Oregon Medical Coordination Center, or OMCC, which, like its behavioral health counterpart, uses real-time data about available hospital beds and critical care services to efficiently place patients in facilities where they can be treated.

“Without centralized information and coordination, patients’ care teams are calling around to colleagues for a higher level of inpatient care than they can provide to their patient, trying to find the one hospital that has capacity right now to take their patient,” said Matthias Merkel, M.D., Ph.D., OHSU senior associate chief medical officer for capacity management and patient flow. “Now we are instead working with unprecedented collaboration, better connecting Oregon’s health services, improving access for Oregonians, and supporting clinicians at every level of care through OMCC and OBCC.”

Wyden and Bonamici emphasized the urgent need to optimize limited behavioral health resources through continued collaboration among partners.

OBCC, launched in 2023, is a hub for information on bed capacity among 11 facilities that provide inpatient mental health care. Behavioral health care providers across the region — including OHSU Health, Unity Center for Behavioral Health, PeaceHealth, Kaiser Permanente, Trillium Family Services and Oregon State Hospital — participated in developing the tool from the early stages, providing real-time data and feedback to ensure the most valuable information is shared most effectively.

After funding the initial OBCC effort with $1.5 million in the 2022 session, the Oregon Legislature in 2023 provided OHSU with $5.4 million for OBCC to support continued build-out and staffing needs. Of that, $1.4 million was one-time funding and $4 million is ongoing. On top of that, OHSU received $800,000 on one-time congressionally directed spending to build the OBCC space.

“We thank Senator Wyden and Congresswoman Bonamici for their support of this important effort,” Merkel said. “OBCC will ensure clinicians have a full picture of available resources as they work to help someone in mental health crisis.”

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