What Does 988 Mean for Psychiatric Emergency Response?

Sponsored by the Ewald W. Busse Lectureship Eric Rafla-Yuan, MD is a San Diego psychiatrist, educator, researcher, and health policy expert. He is a voluntary assistant clinical professor at UC San Diego, where he founded and led the psychiatry residency diversity committee. He graduated medical school and completed additional training in bioethics at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine and completed residency training at the UC San Diego Community Psychiatry Program. His research focuses on policy and structural drivers of health outcomes, and he is the first person to write about 988 and clinical crisis services in a major medical journal. His work is published in popular media as well as the New England Journal of Medicine and Health Affairs, and he has been interviewed by the New York Times, LA Times, Washington Post, ABC, NBC, Politico, and others. He is currently appointed as a 988 Technical Advisor for the California Governor's Office of Emergency Services and previously served as Senior Policy Advisor for the San Diego County Board of Supervisors, where he oversaw health and human services program implementation for San Diego County's 3.3 million residents, with a budget of $3.2 billion, across 18 cities, 18 federally recognized tribal reservations, 16 major naval and military installations, and the unincorporated areas of California's second largest County. He has also held a number of leadership roles with local and state organizations, including the San Diego County Medical Society, San Diego Psychiatric Society, California Medical Association, and California State Association of Psychiatrists. He is recognized nationally, serving as the chair of American Psychiatric Association Caucus on the Social Determinants of Mental Health, a delegate in the American Medical Association's House of Delegates, and Vice President of the Association of LGBTQ+ Psychiatrists. Dr. Rafla-Yuan formerly served in Washington, D.C. as Health Counsel for Congressman Tony Cárdenas and as Staff Director of the bipartisan 988 & Crisis Services Congressional Task Force in the United States House of Representatives during the 117th session of Congress. Link to join: https://duke.zoom.us/j/98318919146?pwd=WjE3L3JHNTNCZS83Qytxdk1Pc3Zzdz09