Capillary Placement

Find an open behavioral health bed and hold it

Capillary Placement is software for running a statewide bed registry. Deputies, crisis teams and emergency departments see the nearest open psychiatric and crisis beds by drive time and ask several facilities at once. The first facility to offer a bed holds it. The state sees how long each request waits for a bed.

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Live for a sample state department: 75 open beds by level of care, 2 requests waiting for an answer, 4 beds held, a median time to bed today of 4:29, a map of facilities and the last hour's requests.
What the state sees, on a sample registry with made-up facilities and numbers.

How it works

Each request moves through four steps. The pictures show a sample registry with made-up facilities and numbers.

  1. 1. Request

    Ask for a bed from a phone

    Choose the kind of placement and the age group. The nearest facilities with open beds appear by drive time from where you are, each with its 24-hour line. One button sends the request to several of them at once.

    Find a bed on a phone, with sample data: drive times from Stillwater, Emergency detention and 18 to 64 chosen, and a button that asks the nearest 3 facilities.

  2. 2. Offer

    The facility offers a bed

    The request appears on the facility's Desk screen with the time left to answer. To offer, intake staff choose a unit with an open bed.

    A sample facility's Desk screen: request R-693B7A from a sample sheriff's office, the answer due in 30 minutes, a unit with 3 available beds, and the button that offers and holds the bed.

  3. 3. Hold

    The first facility to offer holds the bed

    The bed stays held for 4 hours, or for the time the state sets. You see where the bed is held and until when, with the facility's 24-hour line and directions. The request is withdrawn from every other facility, so none of them keeps a bed for someone who is not coming.

    The status screen on a phone, with sample data: bed held at Quarry Hill Crisis Center until 1:43 PM, its 24-hour line, Directions and a time to bed of 0:15. The two other facilities asked show Withdrawn.

  4. 4. Arrive

    The facility marks the arrival

    Each step is time-stamped, so you, the facility and the state see the same record.

Who uses it

  • Deputies, crisis teams and emergency departments

    Find an open bed, request it and follow the answer on a phone.

  • Intake staff at each facility

    Answer requests, see which beds are held and keep open-bed counts current.

  • The state behavioral health agency

    Watch open beds and requests, set the rules and publish a public report.

Useful before any facility signs up

Capillary Placement starts from public data. Facility names and 24-hour lines come from the state's own lists, and drive times come from road data. On the first day, a deputy can find and call the nearest crisis centers. Open-bed counts appear as facilities join.

No names or diagnoses

A request lists only the kind of placement, the level of care, the age group and how urgent it is. There is no field for a name, a birth date or a diagnosis.

The state sets the rules

  • How long a facility has to answer a request.
  • How long a bed stays held.
  • When a bed count is out of date.
  • How many facilities one request can go to.

Every request, answer and held bed goes into a record that an auditor can check. The public report shows totals only.

Bed registries by state

In a 2025 national survey, 25 of the 50 state mental health agencies that answered said they run a crisis bed registry.

Common questions

What is a behavioral health bed registry?
A bed registry is a shared, current list of open psychiatric, crisis and substance use beds. The people placing someone can see where a bed is open instead of calling facility after facility.
Does Capillary Placement keep names or diagnoses?
No. A request lists only the kind of placement, the level of care, the age group and how urgent it is. Nobody enters a name, a birth date or a diagnosis.
Is this a state's official registry?
No. Capillary Placement is software a state can run its registry on, under the state's own name. Each state's page links to the state's behavioral health agency.
What does it run on?
It runs in a web browser on a phone or a desktop computer, with nothing to install. Alerts go by email.
How can I see it?
Request a demo. We show it on a sample registry.

Sources

See it on a sample registry

We also show the public data your state's registry would start from.

Request a demo