Missoula Mobile Crisis Team Seeks Funding to Expand to 24/7
Missoula's mobile support team, which responds to behavioral health 911 calls, has seen call volume rise 140% since 2021 to roughly 3,130 calls a year, but still cannot operate around the clock due to funding constraints. The team, run jointly by the city, Missoula County and Partnership Health Center, recently secured a four-year federal grant of about $726,650 annually that will let it explore expansion, though leaders say that funding alone does not guarantee 24/7 coverage. Montana's mobile crisis programs rely on federal and state grants plus Medicaid billing, since private insurance and Medicare do not reimburse for mobile crisis services; similar funding gaps have forced Great Falls and Billings to shut down their programs in recent years while Helena and Kalispell have expanded. Missoula's team now includes five full-time EMTs, six clinicians and on-call staff, and increasingly responds to calls without police or fire backup.