A national survey of mobile crisis programs conducted in 1993
showed that 39 states had such services (1). The advantages
reported for such programs included improved access to treatment
for mentally ill persons, the capability to avert a crisis or
decrease its severity, and reduced criminalization of mentally
ill persons by diverting them from jail to treatment. Mobile
crisis programs are also believed to be a cost-effective service
delivery strategy for reducing the costs of psychiatric
hospitalization, family burden, and the costs to the criminal
justice system by providing professional assessment and crisis
intervention in the community (2). The research on mobile crisis
services is mostly descriptive and lacks significant empirical
data on outcomes. Between 1990 and 1995 three systematic
evaluations of the impact of mobile crisis services on
hospitalization rates were reported. Fisher and associates (3)
found no effect of the intervention on hospital admissions, but
Reding and Raphelson (4) reported a si