141st APHA Annual Meeting

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283572
Physical and behavioral health care integration in the public sector: One community mental health agency's shaky journey toward FQHC land

Wednesday, November 6, 2013 : 11:30 AM - 11:50 AM

Honor Potvin, MPH , Genesee Health System, Flint, MI
Tisha Deeghan, MHSA, LMSW, ACSW, LMFT , Genesee Health System, Flint, MI
With a massive push from all directions toward integrated primary and behavioral health care, Genesee Health System, a community mental health authority in Flint, Michigan, pushed ahead of the crowd to become one of the very first public mental health entities in the country to receive a 330 grant from HRSA, and successfully launch a federally-qualified health center. This was after nearly 10 years of embedding the other local FQHC within its psychiatric clinic. The drivers were clear: A dramatic documented need among the most vulnerable residents in a notoriously vulnerable city (50 percent of all families with young children in Flint live below the Federal Poverty Level), a growing homeless community especially of mothers and children; residents with Serious Mental Illness and co-occurring preventable chronic conditions dying 30-40 years younger than the county's general population; and the need to reduce costs in a capitated system while improving care and outcomes. The goal was simple: Deliver integrated care that improves the length and quality of lives in our community. Unfortunately, despite best intentions, extensive resources and talent, and much excellent planning including a prior year HRSA Planning Grant, the larger system pieces of the health care delivery puzzle are not in place to fully support this goal. Project leaders/administrators will discuss lessons learned and groundbreaking efforts to navigate these unwelcoming systems that have simply not caught up with the needs of populations and the practices already in place to address them.

Learning Areas:
Administration, management, leadership
Implementation of health education strategies, interventions and programs
Provision of health care to the public
Public health or related public policy

Learning Objectives:
Identify 3 barriers to integrating physical and behavioral health care. Describe at least one leadership strategy to promote the success of an integrated model of health care.

Keywords: Health Care Restructuring, Leadership

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I have been part of the planning and implementation leadership team at Genesee Health System since we formally initiated our efforts to become an FQHC. I led a year-long Health Center Planning Grant funded by HRSA related to these efforts. I continue to provide implementation support since our organization received funding for a New Access Point FQHC. I have been a guest presenter on numerous national webinars on FQHC-related topics.
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.