The Michigan Crisis and Access Line, or MiCAL, has been established to bridge the gap between need and access regarding psychiatric care.
Access to mental health services in Michigan has been difficult to navigate, particularly for health care providers and loved ones of patients needing in-patient care. Legislation was recently passed with the purpose of increasing the efficiency of finding available “psychiatric beds”, which refers to inpatient mental health care.
MiCAL will offer assistance 24 hours per day, seven days per week providing crisis and non-crisis services as well as informational resources and coordination with local health care systems. MiCAL will coordinate with treatment registries to find those scarce psychiatric beds along with substance abuse and crisis residential services.
The legislation compels MDHHS to maintain a registry of services to MiCAL and to coordinate sharing of data. The legislation was introduced by State Representative Mary Whiteford, a Casco Township Republican.
Reporting for WGRT – Jennie McClelland
