Oregon’s system for helping people with imminent thoughts of suicide or other mental health crises is underfunded and poorly tracked, according to a new audit from the Oregon Secretary of State.

The audit, released Thursday, looked at Oregon’s three-part crisis systems: the federally mandated 988 crisis hotline, mobile response teams and crisis centers.

Oregon’s age-adjusted suicide rate has been higher than the U.S. rate since 2000, according to the audit and data published by KFF. The state’s rate was 14th in the nation in 2022, the most recent year data is available.

The 988 hotline, a single nationwide number for crisis help, was established by federal legislation and rolled out nationwide in 2022.

But it’s challenging to evaluate how it’s performing in Oregon.

The audit found the Oregon Health Authority lacks complete data to evaluate how much the 988 hotline is being used, and how often calls to the line result in help being dispatched.

Prior to adopting 988, Oregon had separate county crisis hotlines. After the rollout, it continued to operate those county lines alongside the new 988 system.

According to auditors, OHA is collecting usage data from the two main vendors that run the 988 line, but it does not have equivalent data on the still-in-use county crisis lines. In some cases, the two systems are interconnected, making it hard to assess the overall need for crisis services.

The audit also found that the state has yet to come up with dedicated funding for places to take people in crisis that are alternatives to a hospital emergency department or jail.

In 2021, state legislators created a telecom tax to support the 988 crisis lines and partially fund mobile crisis teams. However, crisis stabilization services — somewhere for people in crisis to go — were left largely unfunded.

As a result, Oregon has just three crisis stabilization centers serving the state, and no designated funding stream to develop more or support their ongoing operations.

According to the report, many people served by the crisis line still end up in emergency departments while waiting for a spot to open at one of the crisis centers.

Some counties are also struggling to meet the requirement of having a qualified clinician available for every call to the crisis line, due to the challenge of recruiting mental health clinicians to work in rural parts of the state. That’s meant some counties have to rely on their county mental health program managers to serve in a dual role.

The auditors recommended OHA work with county mental health programs and its contractors to better understand the crisis line data and its gaps, and develop a comprehensive funding strategy for all parts of the crisis response network.

In a written response to the audit, OHA behavioral health director Ebony Clark agreed with those recommendations.

News Source : https://www.opb.org/article/2025/05/08/state-audit-finds-oregon-underbuilt-suicide-mental-health-crisis-response-system/