SCR 61

2026 Regular Session  ENROLLED
SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION NO. 61
BY SENATOR BARROW
  A CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
To urge and request the Louisiana Department of Health and Louisiana commercial health
        insurance payors to increase reimbursement rates for behavioral health crisis centers
        operating under a crisis receiving center license.
        WHEREAS, the Louisiana crisis response system was established in 2022 as a
statewide mental health crisis response system aligned with the Substance Abuse and Mental
Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) guidelines; and
        WHEREAS, the goals of the Louisiana crisis response system are to support
individuals with mental illness that had been living in nursing facilities transition back into
the community, reduce emergency room utilization, and decrease law enforcement and
justice system involvement in the care of individuals with mental illness; and
        WHEREAS, the office of behavioral health included in its final design for the crisis
system of care four key services, including mobile crisis response, community brief crisis
support, behavioral health crisis centers, and crisis stabilization; and
        WHEREAS, behavioral health crisis centers are walk-in facilities that offer
short-term crisis intervention services, which includes twenty-three hour care designed to
stabilize individuals in crisis; and
        WHEREAS, under the Louisiana Department of Health's licensing framework,
behavioral health crisis centers may obtain either a behavioral health service provider license
or a crisis receiving center license; and
        WHEREAS, facilities licensed as crisis receiving centers are the only facilities
authorized and staffed to offer both short-term, twenty-three hour crisis stabilization services
and long-term, three to seven day crisis care at the same location for individuals requiring
further stabilization; and
        WHEREAS, the Louisiana Medicaid fee schedule has distinct reimbursement rates
for behavioral health crisis care performed with a behavioral health service license versus
a crisis receiving center license with different levels of staffing required; and
        WHEREAS, Medicaid reimbursement rates for behavioral health crisis care
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SCR NO. 61  ENROLLED
providers operating under a crisis receiving center license are inadequate to cover the cost
of twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week staffing required by the Louisiana
Department of Health, and the additional staffing required to care for higher acuity patients
served by behavioral health crisis care providers and crisis receiving centers; and
       WHEREAS, an independent, third-party rate analysis shows the total per diem cost
for a licensed behavioral health crisis care provider operating a crisis receiving center is
$1,163 to provide the first twenty-three hours of care in compliance with state and federal
regulatory staffing requirements, which includes costs for clinicians, nurses, licensed
prescribers, peer support specialists, and behavioral health technicians; and
       WHEREAS, the current Louisiana Medicaid per diem reimbursement rate for a
licensed behavioral health crisis care provider operating a crisis receiving center is $549.40;
and
       WHEREAS, as a result of inadequate Medicaid reimbursement rates for a licensed
behavioral health crisis care provider operating a crisis receiving center, there is currently
only one provider of this type throughout Louisiana; and
       WHEREAS, other crisis receiving centers have attempted to open in other regions
of the state, but have been unable to open or remain viable due to inadequate Medicaid and
commercial insurance reimbursement rates.
       THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Legislature of Louisiana does hereby
urge and request the Louisiana Department of Health and Louisiana commercial health
insurance payors to increase reimbursement rates to more accurately reflect the cost of
providing crisis stabilization services at behavioral health crisis centers operating under a
crisis receiving center license.
       BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this Resolution be transmitted to the
secretary of the Louisiana Department of Health and the executive director of the Louisiana
Association of Health Plans.
  PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE
  SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
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