July-August 2018

Summer Activities:

Even with vacations (2 weeks in Brazil in July, 2 weeks on Cape Cod in August) it has been a busy summer.

Interdepartmental Serious Mental Illness Coordinating Committee:

Dr. Minkoff worked with the non-federal members of ISMICC to help organize several activities to support the implementation of the ISMICC recommendations:

  • Developing a plan for assigning non-federal ISMICC members to each of the five ISMICC workgroups, as well as to maximize non-federal member and other stakeholder engagement in the process within the limits of the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA).
  • Beginning to outline a process for the non-federal members to produce an annual report of progress in December 2018
  • Creating a process for organizing the non-federal members into a regular working team
  • Contributing input to the Data and Quality Workgroup on quality standards, and contributing to the non-federal ISMICC member input into a draft set of standards proposed by the National Quality Forum (NQF).

Meadows Mental Health Policy Institute:   Dr. Cline and Dr. Minkoff continued active involvement in multiple projects and activities conducted by MMHPI, as follows:

  • Finalizing the Houston Endowment Substance Use Disorder System report following submission of the first draft to the funder.
  • Coordinating with the Local Systems team regarding how to best support progress in a variety of local system consultations
  • Working with Dr. Seema Shah to discuss statewide efforts to improve primary health/behavioral health integration for children, and to develop statewide academic partnerships regarding research and services.
  • Participating with Sam Shore on the HHSC-MMHPI workgroup on SUD services, focusing on data accuracy and policy recommendations for sober living and expansion of Opioid Use Disorder services.
  • Supporting implementation of a Texas TA team to work with the American Academy of Addiction Psychiatry on statewide TA for MAT, as part of the national STR-TA initiative.
  • Coordinating with Dr. Meher Karam on STR-TA and the state of treatment for nicotine addiction in Texas
  • Working with Coby Chase and Michelle Harper to organize the events related to children, youth, and early intervention services during the MMHPI visit to London for the Global MH Summit in early October
  • Planning attendance representing MMHPI at the One Mind Conference in St. Helena, CA in September
  • Working with Susan Fordice and Sam Shore to develop the SUD track for the third annual MMHPI Engage and Excel Conference (Houston, Oct 23-25) (engageandexcel.org). Dr. Minkoff and Dr. Cline will be presenting on developing universal co-occurring capability.
  • Working with LDWW on the development of materials for the next phase of Okay to Say: (Okay to Share; Okay to Care).
  • Contributing to an MMHPI Report on Criminal Justice-Behavioral Health Services in Texas
  • Contributing to MMHPI’s public input on HHSC’s redrafted Medicaid policy on SUD treatment.

Follow MMHPI at www.texastateofmind.org

CALM:   Engaged in continuing activities to accomplish the following objectives:

  • Developed a draft supervision plan for CALM
  • Developed a tool for prioritization of the various CALM programs (in accordance with mission alignment, level of success, uniqueness, and financial performance) which will be used by CALM leadership in September
  • Consulted to the intake team on a process for improving welcoming access through the intake process.
  • Discussed the process of conceptualization of CALM programs as a continuum of services based on individual, family, and community need, rather than as distinct service components driven by funding requirements.

Tennessee Co-occurring Strategic Initiative: Begun planning for a series of webinars in the fall to engage new participants in the statewide co-occurring capability development process, particularly Substance Use Disorder programs working with criminal justice. Strategic Initiative

Vermont Co-operative for Practice Improvement and Innovation (VCPI): Dr. Minkoff has been working with the VCPI leadership team to develop a working leadership and operations structure for VCPI.

Follow the Vermont Co-perative at vtcpi.org

Recovery to Practice: On August 6, Dr. Minkoff participated in the final teleconference for the RTP Advisory Committee (Task 4) hosted by Advocates for Human Potential, to discuss project successes and recommendations for continuation of the work following project conclusion in September.

Mid-Hudson (NY) Region Co-occurring Initiative: Dr. Minkoff has been working on organizing the November events, which so far includes a conference on November 13 for co-occurring capability implementation teams from all seven counties in the region, and individual county meetings with Westchester and Putnam on November 14. Other counties may schedule individual meetings as well.

Common Ground: Continued consultation to assist in the development of improved capacity for Common Ground to deliver the highest possible quality comprehensive crisis service array in Oakland County, Michigan. In July the focus of activity was to work with Common Ground on completion of a response to an RFP to develop a comprehensive continuum of crisis services in Detroit-Wayne County, and in August to prepare for a proposal interview.

Iowa East Central Region: ZiaPartners initiated a consultation activity with the MHDS East Central Region (including 9 counties with three regional hubs in Cedar Rapids, Iowa City, and Dubuque). This evolved into a project helping all the MHDS regions in Iowa respond to new proposed rules for required intensive core services based on recent legislation. Dr. Minkoff attended the MHDS Commission hearing regarding those regulations on July 19, and then worked with all the regions and a few other stakeholders to write suggested revisions of the proposed rules and regulations on behalf of the regions. These were submitted to the regions on August 30 and are due to MHDS on September 4. The suggested revisions address in detail the relationship between the state, the MCOs, the regions and the providers, moving toward a collaborative design and away from the implication of an unfunded mandate. There is also detailed language regarding the design of the crisis continuum, including Access Centers, crisis residential programs, continuing crisis intervention services, and so on. Language addressing multi-occurring conditions (MH, SUD, IDD, BI) was modified and improved.

Solano County, CA: ZiaPartners began a conversation with Solano County (in central CA, based in Fairfield) behavioral health services in July about how to help with their movement to developing a systemwide integration of MH and SUD services.   The next step in this process will be a presentation given by Dr. Minkoff on September 20 at the Solano County Recovery Day event.

Silver Hill Hospital – ZiaPartners has contracted with Silver Hill (located in New Canaan, CT) to provide assistance with continuing implementation of the transformational recommendations from our April visit, to implement a collaborative culture to facilitate admissions, transitions, and staff engagement. The first on-site visit in this phase of the work will be September 26-27,

College for Behavioral Health Leadership – As a Board member, Dr. Minkoff has been contributing to launching a new set of CBHL activities that will allow the organization to operate on a much bigger scale and will attract resources for the development of materials to “make leaders better” across multiple sectors and boundaries within the universe of BH service delivery. This initiative will be formally launched at the CBHL Summit in Richmond in September (link to website)

SAMHSA – Dr. Minkoff was asked by SAMHSA to coordinate a day-long panel meeting on Co-occurring Serious Mental Illness and Opioid Use Disorders on August 23. The forum incorporated input from NASMHPD, NACBHDDD, National Council, CCBHCs, CMHCs, and various Behavioral Health provider disciplines, including peers. The objective was to identify what is known about how to help individuals with SMI/OUD and how to implement what we know more systematically across the nation.   There will be a report prepared on the results of the panel, and the content of this report will be referred to the relevant ISMICC workgroup (which is co-chaired by Justine Larson, MD, Medical Director for the Center of Mental Health Services, who was one of the SAMHSA conveners of the panel, along with Tison Thomas, who is one of SAMHSA’s experts on co-occurring disorders and oversees the MH Block Grant.).

 

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