Amy Green

This is how we do it! Cummings Graduate Institute for Behavioral Health Studies RISE Asha Immanuelle RN, PHM-C Cara English, DBH Dr. Amy McConnell, DBH, LCSW Dr. Allison Earl, DBH, LPC-S Dr. Ebony Watson, DBH, LCSW Dr. Ronke Komolafe, DBH, MBA 2 programs will be funded:. 1. $15M community-based maternal behavioral health services to improve access to timely, culturally appropriate and evidence-based maternal mental health and substance use treatment. 2. $12.5 M will support a women’s behavioral health technical assistance center to improve the capacity of women’s behavioral health providers, general healthcare providers and others involved in treating women with diverse needs in a holistic way. The program aims to identify and improve the implementation of evidence-based practices in women’s behavioral health. #WomensBehavioralHealth #MaternalHealth #WholePersonCare #IntegratedCare #HealthEquity #AccessToCare

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"This study represents one of the first uses of the AHRQ-HLUP Toolkit in a local health district setting to conduct an organizational HL (health literacy) needs assessment and develop an OHL (organizational health literacy) improvement plan, which included e-newsletters and in-person workshops. Results reflected notable strengths and weaknesses in current OHL practices from staff and client perspectives, with the greatest need identified in written communication. E-newsletter series and in-person workshops on the Clear Communication Index helped lay groundwork for additional HL improvement activities for VDH (Virginia Department of Health) staff." Kružliaková N, Porter K, Ray PA, Hedrick V, Brock DJ, Zoellner J. Understanding and Advancing Organizational Health Literacy Within a Public Health Setting. HLRP: Health Literacy Research and Practice, 2021;5(1):e35–e4. https://lnkd.in/eMJz6xkQ #patienteducation #healtheducation #healthliteracy #organizationalhealthliteracy #plainlanguage #patientsafety #healthcarecommunication #healthcommunication #publichealth

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Today, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), through the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), announced funding opportunities totaling $27.5 million to improve women’s behavioral health across the United States. This initiative, supported by President Biden’s American Rescue Plan, aims to address the unique mental health and substance use treatment needs of women by expanding access to services and enhancing provider capacity to identify and treat these conditions. Additionally, SAMHSA awarded nearly $1 million to two grant recipients as part of the Services Program for Residential Treatment for Pregnant and Postpartum Women. These investments align with the Biden-Harris Administration's commitment to tackling the mental health and overdose crises, key components of the President’s Unity Agenda, and support broader efforts such as the White House Initiative on Women’s Health Research and the Maternal Mental Health Task Force’s National Strategy. HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra emphasized the importance of maternal mental health, stating that community-based behavioral health services are crucial for supporting women and investing in America's families. Dr. Miriam E. Delphin-Rittmon, HHS Assistant Secretary for Mental Health and Substance Use, highlighted that women face unique challenges in accessing quality behavioral health care and that this funding addresses these inequities with necessary resources.

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Hospice care prioritizes comfort and quality of life for terminally ill patients through a patient-centered, interdisciplinary approach. It emphasizes pain and symptom management using both pharmacological and non-pharmacological methods, addressing physical, emotional, social, and spiritual needs. Family involvement and personalized care plans are fundamental, ensuring holistic support. Medical providers play a crucial role in educating patients about hospice care's benefits. By discussing personalized care plans, pain and symptom management strategies, and the emotional and spiritual support available, providers can help patients and families understand the comprehensive, compassionate care hospice offers. Effective communication about advance care planning and the continuous support for families, even after the patient's passing, highlights hospice care's dedication to maintaining dignity and comfort at the end of life. #hearttohearthospice #hospice #hospicecare #hospicenurse #homecare #homehealthcare #palliativecare #caregiver #caregiving #eldercare #elderlycare #agedcare #aging #alzheimers #dementia #support #grief #griefandloss #grieving #seniorcitizen #seniorliving #seniorservices #assistedliving #dementiasupport #cancer #painmanagement #comfortcare #family

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Let's delve into the Value-Based Payment (VBP) model and its potential to enhance the delivery of integrated and coordinated substance use disorder (SUD) treatment services. In comparison to physical health, mental and behavioral health are in the early stages of VBC adoption. With healthcare spending being significantly higher for patients with mental or behavioral health diagnoses, models focusing on effectiveness and cost reduction are gaining traction. It's crucial to advocate for behavioral health care parity! #mentalhealthparity #vbc https://lnkd.in/errDQ-Wd

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Health equity doesn’t exist in any state in the Union. Disparities are often manifested by non-medical drivers fueled by political determinants. Systemically, value-based care is meant to address these. Inherently, VBC frameworks are architecturally designed to close these gaps. Sadly, we are far from it as economic and payment models still incentivize services for isolated fees. It’s time for change! How? What do you think it’s needed? While progress is underway, what changes are still missing?

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📊 Digital Health Is Making a Difference for Populations Experiencing Homelessness🏥 A new report on samaritan’s pilot with 7 LA community health centers reveals the power of digital interventions to improve healthcare outcomes for those at risk or experiencing homelessness. Key Findings: 🔹 Significant financial support and community encouragement provided to people experiencing homelessness 🔹 Increased self-efficacy, helping meet social needs 🔹 Notable decrease in emergency department usage 🔹 Significant healthcare cost savings 🔹 Improved HEDIS compliance scores post-enrollment This groundbreaking pilot demonstrates how innovative digital solutions can address complex healthcare challenges and support vulnerable populations. 🔍 Want to learn more? Dive into the full Samaritan report here: https://lnkd.in/guPfE_SW #DigitalHealth #HomelessnessAndHealthcare #HealthEquity #InnovationInHealthcare #CHCF

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You don't need me to remind you that we are in the midst of a mental health crisis. Recent guidance from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), however, gives me cause for hope. Here's what they'll do for us: 1.) Schools can now receive higher reimbursement rates for mental health services provided. 2.) We now have easier methods for billing and claiming practices. 3.) Medicaid agencies and schools will partner to expand the use of the 988 hotline for students experiencing mental health crises. And most exciting: CMS has opened applications for state-level grants totaling $50 million to help expand school-based services across the country. #Medicaid #StudentWellness #MentalHealth

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In case you missed it, our Chief Executive/Founder was quoted in the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health (OASH) Maternal Health Alliance Compendium, released earlier this year, in reference to PUSH’s mission and working together to mitigate the maternal health crisis. “The mission of PUSH is to provide a trusted partnership and support system for women, moms, and families through all phases of pregnancy, including pre-conception and postpartum. Our program is built on the foundation of Community Health Workers with continued growth as an integrated approach to care. This consists of CHWs, doulas, midwives, and public health practitioners working collaboratively with clinical and medical providers. One of the challenges that we have experienced is connecting with the hospital system. As we know, the work that we do, no single community-based organization can do it alone.” Link to the full report: https://lnkd.in/gsgPMBq5  

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🚨 Attention all healthcare funders and policymakers! 🚨 Chronic pain management is a critical issue that demands urgent and innovative solutions within our healthcare system. The current provisions, as outlined in the Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS) and the Seventh Community Pharmacy Agreement (7CPA), often fall short of delivering the comprehensive interdisciplinary care necessary for effective chronic pain management. Research shows that a staggering 80% of individuals living with chronic pain do not have access to treatments that could significantly improve their quality of life, well-being, and workforce participation. This gap not only burdens primary healthcare but also overwhelms state-funded tertiary health services with excessive referrals, long waitlists, and avoidable Emergency Department (ED) visits. However, there is hope. Studies have demonstrated that multidisciplinary pain management services can reduce overall healthcare utilization by 35%, including fewer ED visits, hospitalizations, and outpatient appointments. Our multidisciplinary pain management service, detailed in our paper “Bridging the Chronic Pain Care Gap,” leverages available Federal Funding and provides additional support as a wraparound service in Primary Care. This program has undergone successful piloting, showcasing clinical outcomes that often surpass inpatient programs. We are also proud to be the recipients of the Best Multidisciplinary Care Program award at the 2024 Pinnacles Pain Sector Awards. Despite these successes and obvious system-level benefits, funding remains insufficient to deliver this type of comprehensive care required in the community. To bridge this gap, we propose a funded moderate-scale study in every state and territory to establish measurable outcomes, inform future budget considerations, and provide immediate relief to tertiary health pain services, thereby reducing avoidable ED presentations and supporting time-poor GPs. We are calling on all those with health budgets, insurers and policymakers to support this crucial initiative. Comprehensive chronic pain management must be a public health priority!!! Investing in cost-effective, innovative initiatives like the award-winning program offered by Pain Education and Management, can significantly improve outcomes for individuals living with chronic pain while optimizing healthcare resources. I am eager to see more discussion about this subject and explore avenues for collaboration and would be interested in other opinions and thoughts. Let’s work together to make a difference! Painaustralia, Pain Foundation Limited, Chronic Pain Australia, Australian Pain Society #Healthcare #ChronicPain #PainManagement #HealthcareInnovation #MultidisciplinaryCare #PublicHealth #Collaboration #HealthPolicy #HealthcareReform

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CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS - PERINATAL BEHAVIORAL HEALTH BASELINE DATA PURPOSE The perinatal work group expressed an interest in collecting baseline data for the guidelines they created in order to measure changes to processes of care. In response, the Bree has designed a difference-in-differences evaluation plan to measure the change in processes and impact of implementation using a combination of process measures collected through a survey and metrics data collected through OB COAP. AIMS - To measure impact of guidelines implementation - To determine which activities had the most impact on the outcomes - To understand if or how the use of equity data may have contributed to the outcome - To understand which guideline areas provided the most support for implementation - To understand which barriers and facilitators were most highly correlated with successful implementation. BENEFITS OF PARTICIPATION Any organizations that participate in the 2024 and 2027 process data collection efforts will be eligible for the Bree Collaborative’s Pathfinder Award and, subsequently, the Foundation for Health Care Quality’s Mountain Climber Award.   HOW TO PARTICIPATE Our process evaluation score cards measure an organization's concordance of care with Bree guidelines. These score cards can be found in our Implementation Guide, along with tools and resources to help your organization implement our recommendations. https://lnkd.in/eFzKeZTk   To find the score card(s) appropriate for your audience(s), follow the link above, scroll down to the Perinatal Behavioral Health section and click on the Metrics and Evaluation tab. Score cards are in excel format and are listed by audience type (providers, health systems, hospitals, health plans, etc.). Your organization may wish to submit more than one score card.   Other tabs labeled Equity, Barriers & Enablers, and Survey Questions are included in the score card, however we are only interested in the evaluation items for baseline measurement.   Please be sure to include contact information and organization name on the score card.   SUBMISSION PROCESS Those submitting baseline data should fill out the data collection tab that is applicable to their role or “audience type” (i.e. pediatrician, outpatient, hospital, etc.) and the equity tab. The completed workbook can be emailed to our Evaluation and Measurement Manager at: knicholas@qualityhealth.org or submitted through our portal: https://lnkd.in/eJmzb_Q9

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📺 On-Demand Webinar | Behavioral health providers need to stay current with trends in federal and state regulation of scope of services, clinical coverage criteria, and service line expansion opportunities. Join Jeff Brown of EBG Advisors, Inc., and Epstein Becker & Green, P.C., attorney Kevin Malone for an overview of these recent trends and a discussion on methods of service line expansion opportunity and analysis through market exemplars. #BehavioralHealth #MentalHealth #Healthcare

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Multicultural Institute - Episode Three: Health Investments for Berkeley The possibilities for improving health justice and equity are vast when there is an authentic partnership and inclusive engagement of community based advocates and organizers. In a special CBPH mini-series, Praxis is featuring the community-led efforts to improve health that have been been funded in part through investments from Berkeley’s soda tax. This series presents the grounded stories of the impact that this funding is having at the community level. Visit our site to learn more about our featured mini-episode series, Health Investments for Berkeley: https://lnkd.in/gQXAVPmV This mini-episode series is part of our larger case-study collection, Communities Building Power for health. Learn more about it here: https://lnkd.in/gsWFT-4 #HealthJustice #EquityInHealth #CommunityEngagement #CommunityOrganizing #HealthEquity #SodaTaxImpact #CommunityLedInitiatives #PublicHealth #CommunityEmpowerment #SocialJustice #HealthcareAccess #CommunityHealth #SodaTaxFunding #CBPH #PraxisInitiative #BerkeleySodaTax #HealthImprovement #InclusivePartnerships #CommunityAdvocacy #HealthcareJustice

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How Community Care Hubs Are Making Social Care Happen In today's healthcare landscape, addressing health-related social needs (HRSNs) such as food insecurity, housing instability, and lack of transportation is crucial. Health plans and systems are partnering with community-based organizations (CBOs) through innovative models like Community Care Hubs (CCHs) to bridge the gap between social care and healthcare delivery. What Are Community Care Hubs? Why Payers Should Partner With Them? Community Care Hubs are entities that lead and organize networks of CBOs to provide comprehensive social care services. By centralizing administrative functions—such as contracting, payment operations, referral management, and data collection—CCHs enable smaller CBOs to participate in healthcare partnerships, ensuring they can effectively address a wide range of HRSNs. - Efficiency and Effectiveness: CCHs streamline administrative tasks, allowing healthcare organizations to contract with multiple CBOs through a single point of accountability. - Scalability: They provide the infrastructure for scalable and sustainable interventions, leveraging economies of scale. - Improved Outcomes: By coordinating diverse services across a broad geography, CCHs enhance the capacity to address HRSNs and improve health outcomes. The Evolution of Hubs and Their Value Proposition Over the past 15 years, the concept of CCHs has evolved, supported by public and philanthropic investments. CCHs offer a robust value proposition for healthcare entities by enhancing efficiency, ensuring quality service delivery, and fostering trusted relationships with the community. By addressing the social determinants of health, they play a pivotal role in reducing emergency department visits, hospital readmissions, and overall healthcare costs. The Partnership to Align Social Care continues to develop resources to support the creation of efficient, sustainable, and equitable social care ecosystems. By fostering cross-sector collaborations and leveraging the strengths of healthcare organizations and CBOs, we can create a more integrated approach to addressing HRSNs. At Nascate, we’re proud to support these efforts with Combined Risk (Social+Clinical) Analytics, which measure impact and ROI. We welcome your comments or questions below. #Healthcare #SocialCare #CommunityCareHubs #CBOs #HealthEquity #Partnerships #SocialDeterminantsOfHealth #ValueBasedCare

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A New York Nonprofit Media article discusses the nuanced care required to address mental health within AAPI communities. In the article, Phenix Kim shares how care should encompass cultural understanding, as highlighted in a study by the Asian American Federation. The article also highlights how community-based organizations play a crucial role in bridging gaps in mental healthcare for the AAPI community and that supporting these organizations is necessary to connect community members to appropriate resources. Learn more: https://bit.ly/3KoIa6m #RaisingOurCIty #MentalHealth #NYC

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🚨 The recent federal opioid trial highlighted in Behavioral Health Business shows that even well-funded, large-scale initiatives can fall short of their goals. This underscores a critical point: education, particularly in areas as complex as substance abuse and overdose prevention, must be personal and tailored to the individual. Massive programs have their place, but to truly make an impact, we need to address the unique needs of each person. Personalized education and intervention strategies can help bridge the gap between intention and outcome, ultimately saving more lives. Let's rethink how we approach education and make it as individualized as the challenges we aim to overcome. 💡💪 #OpioidCrisis #Education #PersonalizedLearning #HealthCare #PublicHealth https://lnkd.in/ggPnEpY6

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Margie Balfour, MD, PhD, chief of quality and clinical innovation at Connections, has played a pivotal role in shaping and advocating for the integration of behavioral health into overall healthcare. Dr. Balfour's efforts have brought to light the critical need for mental health to be viewed and treated with the same urgency and importance as physical health. In speaking with several publications, here are some of the key elements that make crisis response systems successful: 1. A sustainable funding model 2. Strong partnerships with law enforcement 3. A human-centric approach The Connections model exemplifies these principles by providing high-quality, accessible care exactly when it's needed most. Learn more about a holistic approach to crisis care at the link. https://lnkd.in/ghNdPyXs #ConnectionsHealthSolutions #mentalhealth #behavioralhealth #crisissystems 

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Demand for mental health services is reaching crisis levels across the country. BIPOC youth are among the most impacted. As The Door - A Center of Alternatives's Kelsey Louie writes in NYN Media, youth of color face higher behavioral health needs but less access to care. These barriers can be traced to "stigma, cultural differences, intimidating practices, and lack of validation", which is compounded by "a shortage of culturally competent practitioners in the field". We've been digging into why this shortage exists. By speaking with social workers, nonprofit leaders, students, credible messengers, and other mental health stakeholders, we've uncovered why these barriers exist, the impact they have, and how we can open up pathways for people of all backgrounds to support the mental health of their communities: https://bit.ly/4batmnu https://bit.ly/3UCVES0

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