Yellowstone County Moves $3M Mobile Crisis Program Toward Launch
RiverStone Health has secured a four-year federal award to build a mobile behavioral-health crisis response system for Yellowstone County, with phased expansion from Billings to 24/7 coverage and rural service.
RiverStone Health is moving a new $3 million mobile crisis-response program toward launch in Yellowstone County, Montana, creating a behavioral-health-led response model intended to reduce unnecessary reliance on emergency departments, jails and law-enforcement response for some mental-health and substance-use crises.
Billings launch is planned first
The program is expected to begin in Billings within approximately six months of the award period. The initial model calls for a two-person mobile team operating 10 hours a day, seven days a week.
RiverStone Health has described the team as a behavioral-health clinician working with an emergency medical professional. The service is intended to provide assessment, de-escalation, safety planning, care coordination, follow-up and referral to ongoing treatment and recovery services.
911 and 988 are part of the response architecture
The implementation is being built around coordination among Yellowstone County 911 Communications, Montana 988 Lifeline providers, emergency medical services, hospitals, law enforcement, behavioral-health providers and community organizations.
That structure is important because SAMHSA's Mobile Crisis Team Partnerships program is specifically designed to establish or expand behavioral-health crisis teams and structured partnerships that reduce reliance on law enforcement and emergency departments when a behavioral-health response is more appropriate.
Coverage is designed to expand over three years
The phased implementation plan calls for the program to expand to 24-hour, seven-day-a-week coverage by the end of year two and then extend mobile crisis services into rural Yellowstone County by the end of year three.
The four-year federal funding horizon provides a longer implementation window than a short pilot, but continued annual federal support is subject to program requirements and available appropriations.
The grant builds on an existing county crisis-diversion system
Yellowstone County already has a state-funded Crisis Diversion Grant structure involving RiverStone Health and multiple local subrecipients. County records show that the existing work includes crisis-system coordination, mobile-crisis startup planning and community care coordination.
RiverStone Health also serves as the backbone organization for the Yellowstone County Behavioral Health Coalition, whose crisis/diversion and re-entry work groups are part of the county's broader effort to improve behavioral-health system coordination.
Why the implementation matters for the justice system
Mobile crisis programs are relevant to probation, reentry and local justice systems because behavioral-health crises can otherwise result in emergency-department use, law-enforcement contact or jail involvement. The Yellowstone County model is designed to create another response pathway when the presenting need is primarily behavioral health or substance use.
The immediate news is the $3 million award and phased Yellowstone County deployment. The larger signal is the continued movement of federal behavioral-health funding into local 911/988-linked mobile response systems. OACRA will track whether the model reaches 24/7 operation, expands into rural areas as planned, and produces measurable changes in emergency-department, jail and law-enforcement utilization.
What to watch next
Key milestones include the Billings service launch, staffing and operating-hour expansion, formal 911/988 dispatch protocols, rural rollout, follow-up and warm-handoff capacity, and any publicly reported utilization or diversion outcomes.
Official sources
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Sponsor Independent News →Editorial note: OACRA News & Policy Review is published by OACRA LLC, an independent private organization. OACRA is not affiliated with or endorsed by RiverStone Health, Yellowstone County, SAMHSA or the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Funding figures and implementation details are based on official federal, county and RiverStone Health materials reviewed September 24, 2026.
