Arkansas System of Care

Stakeholders Planning Committee

Stakeholder Efforts Prior to 8/30/2007

Accountability 

NOTE: If there is a link contained within the description of a resource, you may click on it to download or purchase the item from the website.  However, if you are unable to download any of the resources, a hard copy of the item either is available for copy or loan.

Improving the Quality of Health Care for Mental and Substance-Use Conditions

The Institute of Medicine

November 2002

Millions of Americans today receive health care for mental or substance-use problems and illnesses. These conditions are the leading cause of combined disability and death of women and the second highest of men.

Effective treatments exist and continually improve. However, as with general health care, deficiencies in care delivery prevent many from receiving appropriate treatments. That situation has serious consequences--for people who have the conditions; for their loved ones; for the workplace; for the education, welfare, and justice systems; and for our nation as a whole.

A previous Institute of Medicine report, Crossing the Quality Chasm: A New Health System for the 21st Century (2001), put forth a strategy for improving health care overall. However, health care for mental and substance-use conditions has a number of distinctive characteristics, such as the greater use of coercion into treatment, separate care delivery systems, a less developed quality measurement infrastructure, and a differently structured marketplace. These and other differences raised questions about whether the Quality Chasm approach is applicable to health care for mental and substance-use conditions and, if so, how it should be applied.

This report, Improving the Quality of Health Care for Mental and Substance-Use Conditions: Quality Chasm Series, examines those differences, finds that the Quality Chasm framework is applicable to health care for mental and substance-use conditions, and describes a multifaceted and comprehensive strategy to do so.

The strategy addresses issues pertaining to health care for both mental and substance-use conditions and the essential role that health care for both plays in improving overall health and health care. In doing so it details the actions required to achieve those ends-actions required of clinicians; health care organizations; health plans; purchasers; state, local, and federal governments; and all parties involved in health care for mental and substance-use conditions.

State Regulation of Residential Facilities for Children with Mental Illness

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration

Center for Mental Health Studies
2006
 

This report, which involved a national survey of state officials, provides the most accurate national data available concerning methods that states use to license, regulate, and monitor residential facilities for both children and adults with mental illness.  Officials in state departments of mental health, social services and health and human services responded to a structured questionnaire on facility characteristics and programs, licensing and oversight procedures and sources of financing.  The study found that states use a variety of methods for monitoring residential facilities for adults and children with mental illness, and that states vary in the extent to which they use one method or another. Typical methods included on-site inspections, documentation of staff training and qualifications, record reviews, resident interviews, critical-incident reports, and standards for resident-to-staff ratios and for educational levels of facility directors.  All states used at least several of these methods, but few states used all of them.  In addition, the study also found that the regulatory and monitoring environment for residential facilities is complex because in most states, several agencies, each with a different mission and function, are involved in facility licensing, funding, and oversight.  This report includes responses from officials in 34 States and the District of Columbia who provided information on 63 types of residential facilities; these 63 types account for 7,327 facilities that, in total, had 103,393 beds as of September 30, 2003.
 

Promising Approaches for Behavioral Health Services to Children and Adolescents and Their Families in Managed Care Systems:
Care Management in Public Sector Managed Care Systems

Mary I. Armstrong

2005
 

This resource is seventh in a series of papers that focus on promising approaches in care management for children with serious emotional problems and their families.  This report describes five intensive care management programs in depth, covering issues such as key components, eligibility criteria, caseload sizes and fiscal arrangements.  It includes a discussion of the programs, as well as policy and practice recommendations.  The approach in this paper is one of seven that were identified through the Health care Reform Tracking Project (HCRTP) as incorporating features that support effective service delivery for children and adolescents with behavior health disorders and their families.
 

State Approaches to Promoting Young Children's Healthy Mental Development

Jill Rosenthal, M.P.H., and Neva Kaye
November 2005
 

Children's healthy social and emotional development is essential to school readiness, academic success, and overall well-being. Services that support young children's healthy mental development can reduce the prevalence of developmental and behavioral disorders which have high costs and long-term consequences for health, education, child welfare, and juvenile justice systems.  As part of the Assuring Better Child Health and Development (ABCD II) program, the National Academy for State Health Policy (NASHP) surveyed Medicaid, maternal and child health, and children's mental health agencies in all 50 states and the District of Columbia to gather information on how states are addressing the healthy mental development of children ages birth to three. The objective of the survey was to identify critical issues, common approaches to addressing them, and innovative approaches that might be useful to states participating in the ABCD II Consortium and to other states as well. NASHP received survey results from 101 respondents representing all 50 states and the District of Columbia. 

Mental Health Consultation in Early Childhood

Paul J. Donahue, Ph.D., Beth Falk, Ph.D., & Anne Gersony Provet, Ph.D.

2000
 

As early childhood programs expand to address the emotional, as well as intellectual, development of young children, mental health professionals need to become a part of the early child care team. In this book, educators and mental health professionals will find a proven model of how to collaborate in order to better address the complex needs of young children. Through these positive partnerships, teachers get support and guidance, and mental health professionals gain an effective way to reach families in the community — and children receive the help they need. Based on their own professional expertise and proven strategies, the authors discuss key issues in the collaborative process, including

ü the mental health consultant's transition into early childhood programs

ü  techniques for supporting teachers and enhancing the resilience of children and families

ü  examples of specific traumas and crisis interventions

ü the challenges and rewards of the ongoing partnership
 

This innovative resource delivers practical suggestions, vignettes, handouts, and photocopiable forms to mental health professionals and early childhood educators who want a more effective way to reach the children and families they serve.
 

Map and Track 2000: State Initiatives for Young Children and Families
National Center for Children in Poverty
2000

This new edition updates and expands the information in the 1998 Map and Track on the level of commitment to young children and families across the states. It continues to map state initiatives for young children and families (child development and family support programs, and early childhood systems development efforts) and track them over time. The new edition profiles state efforts to promote family economic security, specifically through refundable tax credits, state minimum wage laws, child care subsidies, health insurance, and food and nutrition benefits. Overall, significant growth has occurred in state child development and family support efforts since Map and Track 1998. But gains have been uneven and efforts to promote family economic security also vary widely. No single state made significant efforts across all the family economic security indicators in addition to making substantial investments in child development and family support. Nonetheless, a small number of states are making strong efforts across both of these areas.
 

Transforming State Mental Health Systems SAMSHA/NGA Center for Best Practices/NASMHPD
Regional Conference New Orleans, LA

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration
Center for Medical Health Services
National Governors Association for Best Practices
National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors
June 2006
 

This resource contains a compilation of materials from the conference.  It includes the agenda, participants list, biographical summaries, presentations/handouts, and state team sessions.  Updates of specific state activities are available online on the National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors' Web site at www.nasmhpd.org/targeted_ta.cfm. Click on "Recent State Activities Under the New Freedom Commission." 
 

The Anti-Stigma Project Information Packet-Stigma: Language Matters

The Anti-Stigma Project

2006
 

The mission of The Anti-Stigma Project is to fight stigma by raising consciousness, facilitating ongoing dialogues, searching for creative solutions, and educating all participants within or connected to the mental health community.  The Anti-Stigma Project workshops are an effective instrument for change, challenging participants to examine the impact of stigma on both their professional and personal lives.  Their workshops combine a variety of learning approaches, such as group discussions, role-playing, and assessment surveys.  Participants will also have an opportunity to analyze videotaped interviews with people who have been affected by stigma.

Each workshop is team-facilitated by trainers with extensive and varied experience in mental health, addictions and recovery, education and communications. Formed in 1993, the Anti-Stigma Project is a collaborative effort among mental health consumers, family members, providers, educators and administrators. 
 

OPEN MINDS Bringing Behavioral Health & Social Services Into Focus Website

OPEN MINDS

2005
 

OPEN MINDS is a national behavioral health and social service industry market research and management consulting firm.  Founded in 1987 and based in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, the 75+ associates of OPEN MINDS provide executive education, information, market research, & management consulting services.  Their mission is to provide behavioral health & social service payers, consumer associations, & service providers, with the management knowledge needed to improve their efficiency & effectiveness in order to better serve consumers.
 

Children’s Systems of Care: A Guide for Mental Health Planning + Advisory Councils

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration
Center for Mental Health Services
October 2001

This tool kit provides an introduction to Systems of Care, a comprehensive framework for addressing the needs of children with serious emotional disturbance and their families.  It will help mental health planning and advisory councils assess state programs and services for children with serious emotional disturbances and their families.
 

School-based mental health: An empirical guide for decision-makers

Albert J. Ducknowski, Ph.D.; Krista Kutash, Ph.D. and Nancy Lynn, M.S.P.H.
April 2006
 

This guide provides information on developing and implementing effective evidence-based services in schools. It describes and critiques the principal models and approaches in mental health and education, and suggests how science, policy, and practice can be integrated to achieve effective school-based mental health service systems through the adoption of the public health model.

For publication information contact: Catherine Newman
   

Guilford Child Health, Inc. PowerPoint Presentation

Marian Earls, MD
September 2006

Guilford Child Health, Inc. is a public-private partnership, unique in North Carolina, in which Guilford County's Health Department, Moses Cone Health System, and High Point Regional Hospital have collaborated to provide health care for indigent children. The clinic has sites on Wendover Ave. and Devon Dr. in Greensboro, as well as a site in High Point. There are currently 28,000 children who are clients at these sites, predominately under Medicaid or Health Choice coverage and a small number whose families lack medical insurance. The pediatricians and nurse practitioners at GCH have extensive experience in caring for indigent children and their families. The public-private partnership permits easy access to various county "wrap-around" services such as WIC and social work.

Evaluation Update

September 2007

For more information

Dawn Zekis
 DHS Director of Policy and Planning  - DHS Lead Staff
 Dawn.Zekis@arkansas.gov, 501-683-0173