Crisis Services Provide Support for Urgent Behavioral Health Concerns
Blues Perspectives
| 5 min read
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan and Blue Care Network offer care options to help members under the age of 65 experiencing a mental health or substance use crisis get prompt and appropriate behavioral health treatment. Services are available at participating facilities and include psychiatric urgent care, mobile crisis assessment, crisis stabilization and residential crisis treatment.
These services can help members get the right care at the right time and in the right place. They can help members avoid emergency room visits for mental health concerns and substance use disorder, as well as unnecessary hospitalizations.
“The beauty of these services is they can meet the member where they are and be accessed any way you need to access them,” said Dr. William Beecroft, medical director of behavioral health at Blue Cross.
Types of services
- Psychiatric urgent care: Emergency and urgent walk-in and virtual service to address immediate assessment and treatment needs for patients who can’t wait for routine outpatient treatment and care
- Mobile crisis assessment: Emergency mobile mental health assessment and intervention for adults and children in immediate crisis. A mobile unit can be deployed to home, office or emergency department.
- Crisis stabilization: 24/7 recovery-oriented crisis center that offers emergency assessment, intervention and stabilization for urgent and emergent situations.
- Residential crisis treatment: Designed for short-term residential crisis treatment for adults ready to participate in recovery.
Participating facilities
The following facilities currently participate in the program, and may offer some or all of these services:
- Location: 1200 N. Telegraph Road, Building 32E Pontiac, MI 48341
- Phone: 800-231-1127
- Counties covered: Genesee, Oakland and Wayne
- Available care options:
- Psychiatric urgent care (virtual visits only)
- Mobile crisis
- Crisis stabilization (on-site)
- Location: 812 E. Jolly Rd., Lansing, MI, 48910
- Phone: 517-346-8460
- Counties covered: Clinton, Eaton and Ingham counties
- Available care options:
- Mobile crisis
- Psychiatric urgent care
Hegira Health’s COPE (Community Outreach for Psychiatric Emergencies)
- Location: 33505 Schoolcraft Road, Livonia, MI 48150
- Phone: 734-721-0200
- Counties covered: Wayne
- Available care options:
- Psychiatric urgent care (on-site)
- Mobile crisis
- Crisis stabilization (on-site)
- Crisis residential (on-site)
- Location: 615 W. Crosstown Parkway, Kalamazoo, MI 49007
- Phone: 269-373-6000
- Counties covered: Kalamazoo
- Available care options:
- Psychiatric urgent care
- Mobile crisis
- Location: 790 Fuller Ave., NE, Grand Rapids, MI 49503
- Phone: 616-333-1000
- Counties covered: Kent
- Available care options:
- Mobile crisis
- Location: Ann Arbor, Center Line, Clarkston, Clinton Township, Farmington Hills, Flint, Grand Rapids, Livonia, Okemos, Pontiac, Port Huron, Southgate, Warren. Click here for address information.
- Phone: 1-800-395-3223
- Counties covered: various
- Available care options:
- Mobile crisis: in-person, or virtual visits available to entire southern Michigan peninsula
- Crisis residential (on-site)
- Location: Various service locations. Click here for address information.
- Phone: 1-833-295-0616
- Counties covered: Crawford, Grand Traverse, Leelanau, Missaukee, Roscommon and Wexford counties
- Available care options:
- Mobile crisis
- Crisis stabilization – on-site care only
- Location: 300 68th St. SE, Building E, Entrance E1 Grand Rapids, MI 49548
- Phone: 616-455-9200
- Counties covered: Kent and Ottawa
- Available care options:
- Psychiatric urgent care (on-site only)
- Location: 3927 E. Northfield Church Road, Ann Arbor, MI 48105
- Phone: 734-544-3050
- Counties covered: Washtenaw
- Available care options:
- Mobile crisis
- Crisis residential
This list was last updated Sept. 25, 2023. Additional facilities may be added to the program in the near future.
How to access these services
Blue Cross or BCN members, health care providers and other individuals can contact these facilities by phone. They also accept walk-ins. Members who need help getting started can call the Mental Health and Substance Abuse number on the back of their member ID card.
Additional benefits
Mobile crisis and crisis stabilization services are designed to provide better care by providing the following:
- A speedy, specialty-focused and confidential assessment of their immediate behavioral health (mental health and substance use disorder) needs
- A multidisciplinary evaluation, including the services of a psychiatrist, which leads to a plan of care and placement in the appropriate level of care
- A positive, less stigmatizing experience than with some other systems of care.
- Rapid access to behavioral interventions, including medication, nursing care, psychotherapy and psychoeducation
- Alleviation of a sense of crisis, encouraging feelings of hope
“These services help ensure our members get treated at the right place at the right time and that they’re linked to the appropriate level of care and available community resources,” Beecroft said. “However, as part of the evaluation and treatment process, some members may still require psychiatric hospitalization as part of their treatment plan.”
Additionally, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan and Blue Care Network can help members find an in-network mental health professional by calling behavioral health access lines listed below:
PPO: Behavioral Health Access Line | 1-800-762-2382
- A free and confidential resource that’s just a call away when you need immediate support. Behavioral health professionals answer, 24/7.
HMO: Behavioral Health Access Line | 1-800-482-5982
- Connect with a behavioral health clinician if you need help finding a mental health or substance use provider.
- Behavioral health clinicians are available for routine assistance from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday. For urgent concerns after hours, clinicians are also available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Learn more about mental health and options you have as a member to seek help at bcbsm.com/mentalhealth.
Another option
You can also call or text 988 if you or a loved one is struggling with a mental health or substance use crisis. The number is an easier-to-remember way to connect with the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline.
More from MIBluesPerspectives:
- As Mental Health Concerns Skyrocket in Children, Pediatricians Adopt In-House Teams
- Blue Distinction Centers for Substance Use Treatment and Recovery Program Expands
- The Staying Power of Telehealth for Behavioral Health Treatment
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