Allegheny County will implement assisted outpatient treatment starting January 1, making it the first Pennsylvania county to successfully implement the controversial legal tool since state lawmakers voted for it in 2018. Called assisted outpatient treatment (AOT), it allows courts to order people with serious mental illness to undergo community-based treatment without hospitalization.
County officials were motivated to act by calls for intervention at a lower threshold of risk than the legal requirements for involuntary hospitalization, known as 302 commitments. A team of researchers published a paper in July establishing a causal link between 302s in Allegheny County and harm people experience after discharge, including charges for violent crimes and deaths from suicide or overdose. According to Erin Dalton, director of the county’s Department of Human Services, “We’ve concluded that the risks of doing nothing are higher than the risk of trying this, and (I) think we’ve put a number of safeguards in place.”
The county developed its AOT plan based on research evidence, advice from local and national experts, and collaboration with partners across county government. It will establish an advisory group to monitor implementation and review progress through 2026, with confirmed members including a former U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania, a disability rights attorney, two academic experts, and the director of a major shelter services provider. The decision to implement AOT follows engagement with stakeholders and consultation with officials from jurisdictions with existing AOT programs in California and New York, which enacted the nation’s first AOT statute, Kendra’s Law, in 1999. However, the announcement triggered outcry from critics including clinical and academic experts who said involuntary care can destroy a patient’s trust in the public mental health system.
This article is an AI-assisted summary. All facts and figures are drawn from the original report: https://www.newsday.com/news/region-state/involuntary-outpatient-treatment-f26210