The rollout of a statewide registry of open beds in psychiatric treatment centers begins in 2022.
It will be accessible on the state health department’s website or by calling a newly consolidated crisis line.
Republican state Representative Mary Whiteford sponsored the law creating the registry. She says it’s the result of conversations with professionals from around the country.
“We, here, in Michigan will have the most comprehensive mental health hotline in the nation. No other state has done this," she said.
The consolidated crisis line will also allow Michiganders to schedule a mental health appointment within 24 hours of calling as well as access addiction resources and tele-psychiatry.
Whiteford says the expanded hotline can help emergency room workers too.
"Currently, if I go to a local emergency room, the ER person there finds that I do need to be admitted, that person can spend hours on the phone calling hospital after hospital after hospital trying to find a place for me or my loved one to go."
A pilot program is underway in the Upper Peninsula and Oakland County.