Coalition on Psychiatric Emergencies


The Coalition on Psychiatric Emergencies is a collaborative working group of behavioral health, psychiatry, and emergency medicine professionals headed by the Emergency Medicine Foundation. COPE represents thirteen professional organizations, making it the largest collaborative in the field of emergency psychiatry in the United States. COPE is a 501 non-profit organization.

History

According to COPE's website, the coalition came out of a "psychiatric emergency summit" in December 2014.

Activities

COPE hosted its "1st Annual Research Consensus Conference on Acute Mental Illness" on December 7–9, 2016 in Las Vegas, NV.

Formation

The coalition's member organizations represent multiple healthcare disciplines, including emergency physicians, nurses, pharmacists, and other stakeholders. COPE is composed of the following member organizations:
COPE supporters include Teva Pharmaceutical Industries and Alexza Pharmaceuticals.

Reception

The formation of COPE has been widely reported in the medical media.

Praise

Scott Zeller, MD, Chief of Psychiatric Emergency Services for the Alameda Health System, has described the collaborative as "unprecedented." Peggy DeCarlis, chief operating and innovation officer of New Directions Behavioral Health, has expressed "excitement" towards her organization's partnership with COPE.

Criticism

David W. Covington, LPC, MBA, CEO and president of RI International, an international provider of recovery services, has suggested that the "reinforcements" that COPE will bring to American emergency departments are not enough to combat the problems that emergency departments face in dealing with acute psychiatric emergencies.