Hospital Info Needed for Statewide Services Referrals

January 31, 2025

MEMORANDUM

IHA is working with the Governor’s Office and the Dept. of Children and Family Services to add hospital information to a statewide database, Spider, for youth behavioral health service referrals for the first time. In the past, Spider referrals excluded all inpatient hospital services due to the database’s more limited use. This request follows this month’s public launch of BEACON (Behavioral Health Care and Ongoing Navigation), the centralized resource portal for Illinois youth and families seeking services for behavioral health needs, which now uses the Spider database for referrals.

We encourage all health systems and hospitals with inpatient and/or outpatient behavioral health services that serve youth to email Arcenia.Harmon@Illinois.gov with hospital contact information (i.e., address, email, and phone number) for potential referrals and availability of specific service lines, such as:

• Hospital inpatient psychiatric and/or substance use treatment services;

• Hospital outpatient psychiatric and/or substance use treatment services;

• Community mental health center, behavioral health clinic, or certified community behavioral health clinic services;

• Crisis or walk-in services; or

• Any other behavioral health service offering not specified above.

For questions or comments related to this memo, please contact us.