273252 All Health Care Reform is Really Local: Operational Challenges and Opportunities for Counties and Providers

Monday, October 29, 2012 : 1:10 PM - 1:30 PM

Robert Ratner, MPH, MD , Health Program of Alameda County (HealthPAC) and Housing Services, Alameda County Behavioral Health Care Services, Oakland, CA
Clara Boyden , Alcohol and Other Drug Services, County of San Mateo, Behavioral Health and Recovery Services, Belmont, CA
     
Dr. Ratner has over fifteen years of experience working on health care services integration and is currently the Coordinator for the Health Care Reform pilot project (HealthPAC). In Alameda County, California. As HealthPAC coordinator, Robert works with mental health, substance use and primary care service providers to expand and improve health care for uninsured Alameda County residents and promote cross-system collaborations and develop innovative models of care. Robert received his public health and medical training from the University of California, Berkeley and University of California, San Francisco and is currently a volunteer faculty member at the UC Berkeley School of Public Health.

Ms. Boyden has twelve years of experience administering county managed health programs and is currently the Manager of the Alcohol and Drug Services Department in San Mateo County, California. Her responsibilities include behavioral health and health care integration (including coordinating implementation of the substance use treatment benefit for San Mateo County's Health Care Reform Pilot), quality and process improvement, increasing co-occurring capability of providers, building cross-functional teams to implement process-improvement strategies, and creating a coordinated and culturally appropriate, trauma informed system of care. Clara's areas of interest are in building system level change to support individual and community health, promoting health equity, and advancing social and economic justice.

Learning Areas:
Social and behavioral sciences

Learning Objectives:
1. Identify the practical challenges and opportunities of local ACA implementation, including: managing organizational change; building relationships between specialty mental health, substance use providers, primary care homes and health care systems; new demands for workforce development; developing administrative capacity required for primary care contracts; expanding access to substance use and mental health services; data sharing across systems; maintaining consumer/family/peer involvement in services; helping clients understand enrollment and benefits. 2. Identify websites and other resources offering timely and critical information about health care reform. Find out how your state is implementing the ACA- use this link, scroll to the bottom of the page, and click on the map of the United States: http://www.nasuad.org/medicaid_reform_tracker.html . Examples of ‘how to’ integrate services: http://www.integration.samhsa.gov/integrated-care-models 3. Identify critical areas of ACA implementation where APHA member advocacy is needed.

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am the coordinator of the Health Program of Alameda County (HealthPAC), California
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

Back to: 3251.0: Invited Session on Health Care Reform: National, State and Local Perspectives on Service Integration for Primary Care, Mental Health, and Substance Use Providers