Single Point of Access Services

Single Point of Access (SPOA)

Single Point of Access (SPOAs) was designed to expand the county's existing community-based mental health network, making it a more cohesive and better-coordinated system. The SPOAs receive and evaluate referrals, match individuals to the appropriate services needed, triage access so that those most in need get priority access, and monitor the results. The goal is to create a system that promotes recovery-oriented services, which are widely available, flexible, personally tailored, and responsive to individual needs. The individual's preferences are integrated into the process.

Help Provided

• Provide knowledge and a lead contact for adult and child mental health and substance use services available in their County
• Maintain historical knowledge of service utilization for adults and/or children and families
• Ability to access accompanying documentation for mental health and/or substance use diagnosis
• Assist in outreach, engagement, and re-engagement for an individual and/or child lost to services
• Navigate, collaborate, and provide consultation on accessing needed services and/or needed assessments/evaluations for multiple systems
  • Criminal Justice System
    • Actively involved with the new Raise the Age initiative
    • LGUs/SPOAs have access to a Jail Matching tool, which matches jail rosters with PSYCKES parameters of HARP eligible, HARP enrolled, HH enrolled
  • Health Home (HHs) and/or Care Management Agencies (CMAs)
  • Hospitals
  • Local Department of Social Services (LDSS)
  • Managed Care Organizations (MCOs)
  • Office for People with Developmental Disabilities (OPWDD) and Developmental Disabilities Regional Offices (DDRO)
  • Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services (OASAS)
  • Other community resources
  • School Systems
  • State Designated Entity (SDE) and Independent Entity (IE)
  • State Office of Mental Health (OMH)
• Troubleshoots challenges with accessing services
• Assist with service provision (cross-system) for individuals with co-occurring disorders
• Participate in individualized planning for adults and children
• Provide clinical discretion for HH Plus eligibility
• Oversee the quality of services being provided to individuals and children/families
• Serve as an access point for services based on need (high need individuals/children) for both Medicaid and Non-Medicaid adults and children
• Manage waitlists for services outside of Medicaid and Managed Care
• Share local data and information on trends, challenges, system and service gaps, best practices, innovative programming, etc.

For questions or referrals you can email our SPOA coordinator or call 315-946-5722.