Colorado leaders are launching a website this week to help improve the state’s mental health system
People in southern and eastern Colorado received health care services more often than people in other parts of the state last year and could be a target for state leaders working to improve the mental health system .
The new information was announced this week as the Colorado Behavioral Health Administration launched an online initiative that aims to increase transparency and accountability and help the administration provide better care to Coloradoans who need it for years to come. .
So far, the system’s Performance Hub has data showing who is receiving services across the country and information on how to lodge complaints about licensees with the agency.
Over time, more data will be added to help identify gaps in care, make system improvements and address health care disparities, administration leaders said earlier this week.
“When it comes to behavioral health change, we and all our partners across the country must know where we are to know where we need to go to improve health care — and The Performance Hub is an important tool for BHA to increase visibility and understanding of behavioral health care in Colorado,” said Christen Lara, director of technology and information at the Behavioral Health Administration.
“It provides information for people to learn what access to mental health and substance use looks like across the country, how it varies across states over time and how changes they are based on the age of the people receiving services – to see where we want to go as a country or to show that we need to make policy changes at the local, state or national level.
The Behavioral Health Administration was launched two years ago, as the state and federal government managed the growing mental health crisis that began during the pandemic.
The goal was to ensure that all Coloradoans have access to mental health and substance abuse services, regardless of where they live, or their ability to pay, while reducing stigma, so that people feel comfortable seeking support and treatment, among many other things. .
The law that created the system required it to establish a monitoring system, on or before July 1, to track the capacity of such services and the performance of all behavioral health providers and to notify changes which are required in the system.
The law requires the administration to set minimum standards of treatment such as making rules about the availability and timeliness of behavioral health services.
The measure also requires the administration to publish accountability reports and other information on its website.
Details
The Performance Hub currently includes information on the number of people who received funded public mental health services in each state per year, the number of residential beds for substance abuse treatment Colorado by county and the number of complaints made to the agency each year. about behavioral health services.
More than 112,000 people received care at community mental health centers or specialty clinics nationwide in 2023 and more than 51,000 Coloradoans received substance use disorder services supported by Behavioral Health Administration.
The San Luis Valley and several counties in eastern Colorado were among those with the highest number of residents receiving community mental health services in 2023.
Lake and Logan counties and several counties in southern Colorado were among those with the highest number of residents who received alcoholism services supported by or which were observed by the administration last year.
The government may need to increase the number of residential beds available for people with substance abuse problems living in rural areas, according to preliminary data.
On average, 397 beds were available in residential treatment centers for people with substance use problems from July 2023 to April.
However, 50 of the 64 counties do not have beds available for people with substance abuse problems.
Most of the beds are clustered in Arapahoe, Denver, Douglas, Elbert, Jefferson and Weld counties, with others located in Pueblo, Baca, Bent and Las Animas counties. Mesa County is the only area on the Western Slope that has beds in addiction treatment centers.
“That level of care is important for people living with certain conditions and what this map shows is what we already know, which is that access is lacking, particularly in rural counties, which means that too many people and families are going without care,” said Vincent Atchity, president and CEO of Mental Health Colorado.
Similarly, the number of Coloradoans who received community mental health services dropped in most states from 2022 to 2023, according to Performance Hub.
“This is going in the wrong direction,” Atchity said. “Why are the access numbers so low?”
Behavioral Health Administration leaders say they plan to study the data published on the site in the coming months and years to improve care across the country.
Performance Hub promotes an option for Coloradans to file complaints about providers licensed by the system. There were 64 complaints made in the first three months of this year, up from 43 complaints in the same period in 2023.
The Behavioral Health Administration investigates complaints, which may include concerns about mistreatment, denied services, poor quality of care, injuries, abuse or neglect and medical errors.
“Highlighting complaints is a very good sign for us, because if people have bad experiences with getting behavioral health services, they should know where to go to tell us, so that we can do something about it,” said Jordan Bass, the department’s director. data science at the Behavioral Health Administration. “That’s unique data that’s unique to Performance Hub.”
The information included in the center so far is collected by management and reports from the All Payer Claims Database.
The Performance Hub will be updated quarterly, and the new metrics will appear on the portal by the end of July.
To strengthen the immune system
The Behavioral Health Administration will hold public hearings in the coming months to help people learn how to use the tool. Those dates will be announced on the Behavioral Health Administration calendar soon.
“It’s important for the public administration to have this kind of visibility to show how it’s improving people’s access,” Atchity said. “And for us, as advocates, it helps – if we can hope that this will be fully realized.”
Mental Health Colorado leaders recently released Know Your Rights information for Coloradoans in need of mental health and substance abuse services.
Making that kind of information available to users of the Performance Hub can clarify how Coloradoans can respond if they suspect they’re facing discrimination or that their health insurance won’t cover certain health services. mental health, for example, Atchity said.
“The main thing people are looking for that they’re not going to find on this site, as it is, is a way to care,” Atchity said.
On Wednesday morning, the Behavioral Health Administration said that an online portal it created, OwnPath, is telling Coloradoans to take care.
Coloradans can complete a short survey to help the state improve the Performance Hub and can watch the website evolve online.
#Colorado #leaders #launching #website #week #improve #states #mental #health #system