Continuity of Care

About the Program

Category: Information Technology (Best in Category)

Year: 2011

The Superior Court of Arizona in Maricopa County Probate/Mental Health Department is responsible for more that $300 million in conservatorship assets and the disposition of 8,000 new probate and mental health matters each year. One court within the larger Probate/Mental health department is the Comprehensive Mental Health Court (CMHC). The CMHC was developed in response to the growing number of seriously mentally ill (SMI) individuals introduced into the criminal justice system. The focus of the CMHC is to identify those eligible for treatment, to work collaboratively with service agencies to provide treatment services, and to oversee compliance with treatment offers. The process for determining competency is referred to as “Rule 11.” Court Technology Services (CTS), the IT department for the Superior County in Maricopa County, developed an application called “Continuity of Care” that adheres to Rule 11. The Continuity of Care application helps ensure SMI individuals are appropriately handled and facilitates the evaluation of SMI patients’ treatment. These actions are completed by the application sharing, condensing, and presenting information in useful ways to service providers and the Court.