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Q&A
Single Point of Access (SPOA) assessment process
0:48:17
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129 sec
Council Member Linda Lee inquires about the Single Point of Access (SPOA) assessment process for mental health services. DOHMH representatives explain the system's operation and staffing.
- SPOA is a centralized assessment system for referrals to various mental health teams
- The SPOA team consists of nurses, case managers, and social workers
- Assessments, triage, and team recommendations are completed within three business days
- Referrals to SPOA come from various sources, with hospitals being the largest contributor
- The budget for SPOA in FY 2026 is about $4 million
Linda Lee
0:48:17
Okay.
0:48:19
And then for the single point of access, if I'm understanding this correctly, so let's just say there's a call that comes through either 911 or 988, they get referred to DOHMH perhaps, and then through the folks that are part of the single point of access, they do the assessment and figure out which program would be the best to deploy.
0:48:39
Is that am I understanding that correctly?
0:48:41
Okay that's correct.
0:48:42
Okay and then how many folks do you have that are receiving those types of inquiries from the single point of access and what is their background to be able to tell the difference?
Michelle Morse
0:48:55
Yeah we have a very experienced team that does all of our SPOA assessments.
0:49:00
The budget for FY twenty six for SPOA is about $4,000,000.
0:49:05
The staff that are doing those assessments are a combination of nurses and case managers and social workers.
0:49:11
And within three business days they are able to do the assessment, triage, and make the recommendation for where someone, what team would be best of service to the individual that was referred through the SBOA.
0:49:27
But just to be clear, the people who fill out the SBOA, it can be a number of different kinds of people.
0:49:33
So sometimes it comes from hospitals, the large majority of our SBOAs come from hospitals, it also comes from community providers and other individuals as well.
0:49:42
So it's not through, there's a number of different doorways into the SBOA.
Linda Lee
0:49:48
Got it, okay.
Jamie Neckles
0:49:51
I can correct the numbers that I provided previously when you asked about the staffing.
0:49:54
Apologies for my stuff So for the ACT team, the 68 person model, there's nine full time equivalents FTE staff for 68 caseload.
0:50:04
For FACT, same size caseload, 68 people, 13 FTEs.
0:50:08
So a few more staff there to handle more complex situations.
0:50:13
And then on IMT teams where the caseload's lower, 27, we have 8.5.
Linda Lee
0:50:21
20 seven caseload, and I'm sorry, what was that number?
Jamie Neckles
0:50:23
Eight and a half FTEs.
Farah N. Louis
0:50:25
Eight and a half, okay.
0:50:26
Perfect.