Metro Intensive Treatment Team (MITT)
Mural at the CSP by Faye Buffington-Howell. Detail.
MHR contracted with United Behavioral Health
(UBH/Medica) in 2005, to deliver intensive, community-based services
to Medica members experiencing serious mental illness and other confounding
factors. Start-up costs were provided by a generous grant from the
Medica Foundation and a contract with the State.
Services are individualized and comprehensive with short-term strategic interventions intended to help stabilize clients and reduce unnecessary psychiatric hospitalizations.
The Metro Intensive
Treatment Team (MITT) is a mobile, collaborative model of treatment
designed to deliver variable levels of service intensity to clients
in their communities and their homes. Services are individualized
and comprehensive with short-term strategic interventions intended
to help stabilize clients and reduce unnecessary psychiatric
hospitalizations. Each client and the team mutually agree on
individualized treatment goals and regularly assess progress.
Clients experiencing acute psychiatric illnesses are offered rapid support
to prevent or shorten hospital stays, avoid commitment, and prevent the loss of
employment, housing and personal relationships. Individuals who receive
treatment quickly have less need of long-term more costly care, and
the severity and impact of the illness on their lives is lessened.
The team has been highly successful in diverting hospitalizations and
civil commitments. The MITT has demonstrated an effective model
that helps build a "public-private partnership".
MHR staff members are pleased to be able to test this model
and produce positive outcomes, along with our collaborating partners.
During 2006, MHR will provide these services for additional health plans.
The benefits to clients, health plans, and the community include less disruption,
more effective services, and lower costs.
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