Quality Initiatives
The Community Mental Health Fund is always working for improvement. Through our future planning initiative and other long-term initiatives, we strive for community leadership in delivering equity and value for people being served with public funds.
Access to Psychiatry
- There is a national shortage of psychiatrists and other prescribing professionals. In response to local referral needs we began a long-term process to better understand those needs and respond. The Integrus Health Group (IHG) studied our provider network in 2016. IHG’s Prescriber Assessment found major strengths and some areas for improvement. IHG is now evaluating unmet needs and recommending areas for development.
- One idea is to establish new (or improve existing) referral agreements between special population agencies and agencies with prescribers. This would help maintain participants’ continuity in community-based specialty agencies.
- Another idea is to communicate best practices to maximize access to existing prescriber services, and consider whether financial incentives are possible.
Case Management
- More than one-fifth of Levy funding goes for case management. Yet this key service is not well understood or defined. Payment rates vary widely and we have not established quality benchmarks. In order for case management to be a building block for value-based care, we are considering tiered reimbursement. The initiative is a work in progress. It is explained further on the Accountability Page of our web site.
Future Planning
- We are working with Open Minds, a national organization that provides human service payers and providers with management knowledge to improve efficiency and effectiveness. A goal of the project is to collaborate with local providers to pilot a value-based care demonstration program for the Community Mental Health Fund.
- In 2014-2015 we worked with the National Council on Behavioral Healthcare (NCBH), to kick-off future planning. An in-depth study produced a Report from surveys and focus groups, and an Executive Summary. A Future-Oriented Planning Presentation by NCBH and Levy staff to the Board of Trustees was also created. It explores value-based care and our rapidly changing field.
Cultural Competence
- Working in the area of cultural competence is central to the Community Mental Health Fund’s identity. The Cultural Competence page of this web site is devoted to our requirements and collaborations in support of a network of providers meeting the needs of underserved Jackson County residents.
