New York City Mayor Eric Adams has announced significant progress in the B-HEARD initiative, which focuses on health-centered responses to 911 mental health calls. In FY2024, B-HEARD teams responded to 73% of eligible mental health calls, handling 14,900 cases, a notable increase from the previous year. The program’s expansion aims to improve crisis care and connect more New Yorkers to community-based mental health services.
Mayor Adams Announces key Milestones and Strategies to Improve Crucial 911 Mental Health Crisis Response Initiative
– New York City Mayor Eric Adams today released new data showing the milestone achievements of the Behavioral Health Emergency Assistance Response Division (B-HEARD), New York City’s health-centered response to 911 mental health calls. Over Fiscal Year (FY) 2024, B-HEARD teams responded to 14,900 calls, which accounts for 73 percent of all eligible mental health calls in the pilot area during the program’s operation hours. The FY24 figure is more than double the previous fiscal year’s responses when teams responded to almost 7,200 calls, which comprised approximately 55 percent of eligible calls. In total, B-HEARD teams have responded to over 24,000 mental health 911 calls since launching in spring of 2021.
Additionally, the Adams administration announced two new policy strategies to strengthen its ability to provide as many New Yorkers as possible with a health-centered crisis response. Both strategies went into effect in June 2024. The first is to prioritize deploying B-HEARD teams to calls that have been fully triaged by the Fire Department of the City of New York (FDNY) Emergency Medical Services 911 call-takers where the teams are more likely to have the patient on-scene where they arrive, maximizing the time B-HEARD teams spend serving individuals in need. The second is to eliminate police precinct boundaries within the existing pilot area, which covers 31 police precincts. This significant program modification will allow existing teams to be nimble in their ability to respond to nearby calls outside a precinct boundary once they have completed a call.
“Responding to New Yorkers’ mental health needs of all kinds is a priority for our administration,” said Mayor Adams. “That is why we have established ‘Teenspace,’ a free telehealth service for youth, which has already provided services to over 16,000 young people; launched the Subway Co-Response Outreach Team alongside the MTA to help New Yorkers affected by severe mental illness in our subway system; and sued the owners of five major social media companies for their role in contributing to the mental health crisis of our young people. For too long, our systems were not equipped to respond to people in mental health crisis. I am proud that under our leadership, we have responded to New Yorkers on over 24,000 mental health 911 calls through the groundbreaking B-HEARD program and have expanded this crucial emergency service to ensure even more New Yorkers get the support they need, especially when they need it most.”
“B-HEARD is another tool to reach New Yorkers in most need and help them get the care they require,” said Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services Anne Williams-Isom. “Roughly four in 10 folks engaged by a B-HEARD mental health clinician have been connected to community mental health supports and B-HEARD teams have reached out to more than 70 percent of eligible calls overall. We will continue to build on these efforts and give every New Yorker in need access to mental health support.”
“As we continue to refine the B-HEARD program, the Adams administration is committed to ensuring that every New Yorker experiencing a mental health crisis receives the compassionate, appropriate care they deserve,” said Mayors Office of Community Mental Health (OCMH) Executive Director Eva Wong. “The latest data highlights significant progress of the B-HEARD program, and the positive impact of New York City’s first-ever health-centered response to mental health emergencies. Through ongoing innovation and collaboration to prioritize fully triaged calls and eliminate precinct boundaries, we are taking significant steps to enhance our response capabilities and better serve our communities.”
“The B-HEARD program is a valuable resource for New Yorkers experiencing mental health crises,” said FDNY Commissioner Robert Tucker. “As a pilot program, it is a patient-driven, health-centered response that has allowed New Yorkers to get the help they need, and we are constantly working to refine the program to ensure we continue to meet the needs of those who need our help the most.”
“B-HEARD continues to enhance the ways NYC Health + Hospitals serves high-needs communities across the city,” said NYC Health + Hospitals Deputy Chief Medical Officer and System Chief of Behavioral Health Omar Fattal, MD, MPH. “The B-HEARD teams are in communities engaging individuals on a daily basis, ensuring that New Yorkers in crisis are provided the recovery-oriented, trauma-informed, and person-centered support they need to stay in the community. B-HEARD’s success as a health-led response is evident by the fact that nearly half of its patients who receive an assessment are assisted in their community instead of making an unnecessary trip to the emergency room.”
B-HEARD is an interagency collaboration between the FDNY and NYC Health + Hospitals with oversight from OCMH. B-HEARD partners with emergency medical technicians (EMTs)/paramedics and mental health clinicians to respond as a team to 911 mental health calls that do not have violence or weapons as the primary concern. The goal of the program is to connect individuals to the best level of care for their needs and reduce unnecessary use of the emergency department and police resources. The teams work with individuals to understand their needs, de-escalate, and, whenever possible, speak with their family members and the individual’s current clinician to determine the best path forward. Each B-HEARD response reflects New York City’s commitment to providing people who are experiencing a mental health crisis with the most appropriate care by pairing mental health clinicians with EMTs for the first-time ever.
The latest data brief shows that the program has made steady progress in responding to a higher percentage of total mental health 911 calls since launch. There has also been an increase in the number of calls that are eligible for a B-HEARD response and the city is responding to more eligible calls. During the 16 hours a day when the program was operational from July 1, 2023 to June 30, 2024, there were 20,541 eligible 911 mental health calls in the pilot area and an overwhelming majority of those calls received a B-HEARD response, with teams responding to 73 percent of all eligible calls. This is a significant increase from the previous fiscal year when B-HEARD teams responded to 55 percent of all eligible calls. Approximately 50 percent of all B-HEARD responses, or 7,417 B-HEARD patients, engaged with a B-HEARD team. Of those instances where the B-HEARD teams made contact with a patient, in FY24, about 50 percent, or 3,691 B-HEARD patients, received a behavioral health assessment.
The data also shows that B-HEARD is helping New Yorkers access community-based options for mental health care through the 911 system — which was not possible prior to B-HEARD — as individuals can be treated by a mental health professional within minutes. In FY24, of the 3,691 individuals that received a behavioral health assessment by a B-HEARD team, 43 percent of them were able to remain in the community, potentially reducing the number of unnecessary transports to hospital emergency rooms. Before B-HEARD, transportation to an emergency department was the only option for mental health treatment available through the 911 system.
The strategies announced today build on previous modifications made by the Adams administration to strengthen mental health operations over the last three years. Since launching B-HEARD in 2021, the city’s approach has always been to learn as much as possible to refine the program to best meet the unique needs of New Yorkers. Accordingly, the city has implemented modifications over the last three years to strengthen operations, such as developing and implementing a new algorithm to automate call triaging to more effectively identify calls that are appropriate for a B-HEARD response; hiring more EMS 911 call-takers in FY24; and conducting a B-HEARD satisfaction survey that showed overwhelmingly positive feedback.
In 2023, Mayor Adams announced a sweeping mental health agenda, “Care, Community, Action: A Mental Health Plan for New York City,” with $20 million in new commitments that invested in, among other initiatives, an online hub to connect New Yorkers with serious mental illness to care and a substantial expansion of the clubhouse program.
Alongside the Adams administration’s focus on mental health, Mayor Adams also launched “HealthyNYC” last November, an ambitious plan to extend the average lifespan of all New Yorkers by reducing the impact of mental health related deaths like overdoses, suicide, and homicides by 2030. Additionally, HealthyNYC expands access to culturally-responsive mental health care and social support services, including early intervention for communities of color and LGBTQIA+ youth, and helps address the impact of social media on youth mental health and suicidal ideation to reduce suicide deaths.
Later that month, Mayor Adams announced “Teenspace” — the city’s tele-mental health service available to all New York City teenagers between the ages of 13 and 17 years old at no cost. In the first six months of the program, the service — created in partnership with online therapy platform Talkspace — allowed more than 6,800 New York City teenagers connect with a licensed therapist through phone, video, and text. In the four months since that announcement — and less than a year after the launch of the program — have benefitted from Teenspace.
“My district’s 104th Precinct has been a part of the B-HEARD pilot program. This has proven to be a life-saving initiative that we must expand citywide,” said New York State Assemblymember Jenifer Rajkumar. “B-HEARD demonstrates our City’s commitment to a public safety response that fits the needs of every situation. Indeed, mental health crises require first responders trained to address these issues and de-escalate the situation. The numbers show that B-HEARD has been a success, responding to 14,900 calls in the last fiscal year—a 50 percent increase from the year before—comprising 73 percent of all eligible calls. I am proud to partner with the mayor to expand this life-saving program across all five boroughs.”
“As chair of the health committee, I am proud to see the significant progress of the B-HEARD initiative in addressing mental health crises with care and compassion,” said Councilmember Lynn Schulman. “The data speaks to the program’s success in offering vital community-based services as an alternative to hospitalizations. However, the need for this type of intervention extends far beyond the pilot area. We must work to expand B-HEARD to communities across the city to ensure all New Yorkers in crisis have access to the appropriate mental health support they need, right when they need it most.”
September 20, 2024
Five Critical Questions
- How does B-HEARD ensure long-term mental health support for individuals who are connected to community-based services?
- What challenges has the program faced in handling complex mental health crises without police intervention?
- Are there enough resources and funding to expand B-HEARD citywide while maintaining the current quality of care?
- How does the city measure the program’s success in reducing hospital admissions and emergency room visits?
- What steps are being taken to educate the public and 911 operators about when and how to use the B-HEARD service?
As the B-HEARD initiative transforms New York City’s approach to mental health crises, critics are voicing essential political questions about its sustainability and impact. Concerns about legislative support, accountability, and the balance of public safety are paramount in this evolving landscape. Explore how Mayor Adams’s administration is navigating these complexities and what it means for the future of governance in NYC.
Sources: Midtown Tribune news, NYC.gov
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