Integration Between Medical and Behavioral Services
The Steering Committee is working with medical providers
in participating counties to develop initiatives to improve
access to physical health services and coordination of physical
and mental health services to participating consumers. This
may include implementation of best practices, such as protocols
for treatment of diabetes developed at the University of
Illinois-Chicago.
According to the Bazelon Center for Mental
Health Law report*
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“In a recovery-oriented
mental health system, physical health care is as central
to an individual’s service plan as housing, job
training, or education.”
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*Get it Together: How to Integrate Physical
and Mental Health Care for People with Serious Mental Disorders
Improved Outcomes for Enrollees with Co-occuring
Conditions
One goal of the WNYCCP is to improve health
outcomes for persons diagnosed with a serious mental illness
by reducing complications of common co-occurring physical
illnesses through improved access to and integration of
behavioral health and primary care services.
An example of a highly prevalent co-occurring
physical illness is diabetes. Diabetes is a complex illness
that involves life style changes, frequent monitoring, and
multiple medication administration e.g., a recent Rand study
found that for 13 quality indicators, av. rate of adherence
is < half for all diabetics. Data show that diabetes
disease management is an evidence-based practice that can
improve health and quality of life and net long term cost
savings through prevention of complications.
"Well Balanced" is a pilot with
the Community Nursing Center of UR and WNYCCP Enrollees
with diagnosis of diabetes. This four month pilot program
began in March of 2005, with a goal to improve integration
of physical/mental health care. The focus is on diabetes
management, health and personal choice using a Nursing outreach
model with innovative interventions to promote holistic
recovery. The anticipated outcome is to capture short term
savings by decreasing inpt/ER. The current enrollment: 83.
Testing Coordination Efforts
WNYCCP is in a unique position to test and report on the
impact of these efforts. The New York State Office of Mental
Health (OMH) has access to Medicaid claims data. CCSI has
the ability to conduct statistical data analysis. Interest
in this research has been expressed by faculty of two area
universities.
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