Best practices in behavioral health redesign are identified
Best practices in behavioral health redesign are identified
A Commonwealth Fund study identified 17 successful and promising innovations in state behavioral health purchasing and quality improvement. The report gives case studies for some of the innovations:
- New Jersey. Consumer Connections recruits, trains, and supports consumers of mental health services to be providers of mental health services as volunteers or as full- or part-time paraprofessionals and professionals within the mental health and human service systems. Services are provided at no charge to consumers. As of the survey there had been 850 graduates, with 65% to 70% currently working in mental health care, substance abuse treatment, or other human service settings in the state.
- Ohio. The Criminal Justice Coordinating Center of Excellence was started to develop programs to help keep people with mental disorders in treatment and out of jail. It has developed a model to encourage communities to approach jail diversion systematically.
- Kentucky. For the period 2003 to 2005, the state's Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation Services designated 1% of total state general funds for use as performance incentives. The amount was raised to 10% for the 2005-06 fiscal year. While the program had not been formally evaluated at the time of the survey, preliminary internal review suggested there had been improvement in data collection integrity and greater awareness of responsibility for using best practices and achieving quality outcomes.
- Iowa. The Department of Public Health is working with the Network for the Improvement of Addiction Treatment to improve access and retention within addiction treatment. The state has used a Network model to work with local addiction service providers to decrease wait time for outpatient services. One agency reported reducing wait times by an average of 56%, while increasing admissions by 186%. The state agency is disseminating the Network model's principles to all addiction service providers in Iowa.
- Tennessee. The Creating Homes Initiative partnered the state Department of Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities with local communities to create permanent housing options for Tennesseans with mental illness and co-occurring disorders. It used a grant from the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to provide greater access to information and services about available housing options and reduced stigma surrounding mental illness through community education and social marketing efforts. By late 2005, the Initiative had successfully created 4,288 affordable, safe, permanent, quality housing options in consumers' chosen communities. The state also reported a 95% drop in the rate of rehospitalizations for consumers residing in Initiative housing.
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