County initiative designed to navigate behavioral health complexity more efficiently, and connect residents to appropriate services faster.
ONONDAGA COUNTY, N.Y. — June 2, 2026 — Onondaga County has selected Clinicom to support a countywide initiative focused on identifying behavioral health needs earlier and helping residents access services more quickly.
The initiative addresses a challenge faced by counties across the country: behavioral health conditions are often complex, overlapping, and difficult to identify accurately. Individuals frequently present with multiple mental health conditions, substance use disorders, trauma histories, and social stressors, making it difficult to quickly determine the most appropriate level of care and support.
“Too often, people spend weeks or even months moving through assessment and referral processes before receiving the services they need,” said Onondaga County Executive Ryan McMahon. “Our goal is to identify needs earlier, reduce delays, and allow clinicians to spend less time determining what's wrong and more time helping people get the right support.”
Clinicom's adaptive assessment technology helps county staff navigate that complexity by screening for a broad range of mental health and substance use conditions through a single assessment. Rather than relying on multiple interviews, referrals, and evaluations to piece together an individual's needs, staff can receive objective clinical insights immediately, helping them make faster and more informed decisions.
The initiative will initially support the Department of Social Services and the County's correctional system by helping identify behavioral health needs earlier and more accurately. Whether an individual is applying for temporary assistance or entering the jail system, timely identification of serious mental illness, substance use disorders, suicidality, trauma, and other behavioral health concerns can help staff move more quickly from assessment to action.
By reducing the time spent navigating the complexity of behavioral health concerns, the county expects to redirect valuable staff resources toward what matters most: helping residents access treatment, benefits, housing, employment services, and other community resources rather than spending weeks or months determining the nature and severity of their behavioral health needs.
“Counties are under tremendous pressure to address growing behavioral health needs with limited resources,” said Michael Horning, Chief Executive Officer of Clinicom. “The opportunity is not simply to identify more conditions. It's to quickly and accurately understand what people are struggling with so resources can be focused on helping them move forward.”
The initiative reflects Onondaga County's commitment to improving behavioral health access, strengthening outcomes for residents, and ensuring county resources are focused where they can have the greatest impact—helping people get the right support at the right time.