1. The certified clinic shall directly, or by a designated collaborating organization, provide robust and timely crisis behavioral health services. The available crisis behavioral health services must include:

a. Crisis intervention services through coordination with the 988 suicide and crisis lifeline telephone, text, and chat crisis intervention call center;

b. Community-based behavioral health crisis intervention services using mobile crisis teams available twenty-four hours per day, seven days per week, to individuals and their families or legal representatives anywhere within the certified clinic's service area, including at home, work, or anywhere else the crisis is experienced. Mobile crisis teams are expected to arrive in-person within thirty minutes plus travel time from the time they are dispatched, with response time not to exceed three hours. Telehealth, telemedicine, videoconferencing, remote patient monitoring, asynchronous interventions, or other technologies may be used to connect individuals in crisis to appropriate providers during the interim travel time. These technologies also may be used to provide crisis care to individuals if remote travel distances make the three-hour response time unachievable, but the ability to provide an in-person response must be available if necessary to ensure safety; and

c. Crisis receiving and stabilization services including, at minimum, walk-in behavioral health services for voluntary individuals. Walk-in behavioral health services must identify the individual's immediate needs, de-escalate the crisis, and connect the individual to a safe and least restrictive setting for ongoing care. The certified clinic shall establish walk-in hours based on the community needs assessment, including evening hours, which are publicly posted. The certified clinic is not required by this section to manage the highest acuity individuals in this setting.

2. The certified clinic's crisis behavioral health care services must include suicide prevention and intervention.

3. The certified clinic or its designated collaborating organization shall offer services capable of addressing crises related to substance use, including the risk of drug and alcohol-related overdose, and shall offer support following a nonfatal overdose after the individual is medically stable. The certified clinic's overdose prevention activities must include access to naloxone for overdose reversal to individuals who are at risk of opioid overdose and, as appropriate, to their family members or legal representatives.

4. The certified clinic or its designated collaborating organization shall offer developmentally appropriate responses, sensitive de-escalation supports, and connections to ongoing care, when needed.

5. The certified clinic shall have an established protocol specifying the role of law enforcement during the provision of crisis services.

History: Effective April 1, 2026.

General Authority: NDCC 50-06-05.2, 50-06-41.4