JULY 2009 ISSUE

Safety Net Collaborative receives award to support evening and weekend services

In June, the REACH Healthcare Foundation announced an award of $200,000 that will support extended evening and weekend hours at safety net clinics beginning in fall 2009. Additional funding necessary to fully implement the project is being pursued.

The proposal will expand the capacity of the safety net system by providing time slots for over 15,000 additional patient visits each year in six safety net clinics (see map). The evening and weekend hours will be supported by a regional network that includes:

• Evidence-based evaluation
• A care-coordination system to help patients find primary-care providers
• An exchange of critical patient medical information between providers
• An outreach strategy that helps the community navigate the safety net system of care
• A collaborative governance structure to oversee the integrity of project implementation and deal effectively with issues that may arise.

Clinics participating in the first phase of the project include:

• Southwest Boulevard Family Health Care, Wyandotte County, Kan.
• The Health Partnership of Johnson County, two locations in Johnson County, Kan.
• Northland Health Care Access at Crestview School, North Kansas City, Mo.
• The Kansas City Free Health Clinic, Jackson County, Mo.
• Swope Health Services, Kansas City, Mo.

For more information about the project, please contact Laura McCrary.

Health Technology Regional Extension Centers

The Health Information Technology provisions of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act will establish regional extension centers to help health care providers rethink their workflow and provide health technology implementation assistance.

“Regional extension centers will play an integral role in ensuring the success of the Obama administration’s goal of national health IT adoption by 2014,” said Jennifer Covich Bordenick, chief operating officer and interim CEO of the eHealth Initiative. “However, there are a great deal of challenges ahead for the regional extension centers as they are designed, hosted, established and begin to operate in their coverage areas.”
           
A national survey conducted by the eHealth Initiative found that there is broad consensus among stakeholders that regional extension centers must be designed with local needs in mind and focus on providing implementation and technical assistance to clinicians. Other key survey findings include:

• Extension centers should not be constrained to a specified boundary; instead, each should establish boundaries that meets the needs of constituents.
• Centers should provide support for all phases of health information technology adoption —from pre-adoption through post-implementation — to ensure success.
• A competitive application process for awarding federal funding should be developed.
• Once established, extension centers should not compete with each other.
• Primary services provided by the centers should include:
• Technical assistance and workflow guidance for clinicians
• Dissemination of best practices and research
• Health information exchange support
• Vendor-neutral purchasing advice
• Connecting public and private efforts

A request for proposals will be available in late fall 2009, with funding for the regional extension centers slated to become available in 2010. Mid-America Regional Council staff has scheduled a meeting on July 21, from 1 to 3 p.m., at the MARC Conference Center, 600 Broadway, Suite 200, Kansas City, Mo., to discuss a Kansas/Missouri bistate effort. If you are interested in participating, please contact Doug Smith.

KC-BHIE establishes working committees

Members of the Kansas City Bistate Health Information Exchange (KC-BHIE) took a large step toward the development of a regional health exchange in June. The group secured funding for technology consultants to complete work necessary for planning, and formally established committees with assigned tasks (see below). KC-BHIE members are working towards a June 2010 deployment target.

The following committees were established and initial tasks assigned to each. Each committee will establish its scope of work, timeline, budget and participants.

Governance Committee

• Outline governance structure
• Ensure equitable participation
• Establish charter and incorporation
• Develop organizational chart
• Secure 501(c)(3) status

Services and Finance Committee

• Raise capital for implementation
• Establish ongoing sustainability plan
• Outline services
• Finalize business plan

Privacy and Legal Committee

• Conduct initial assessment of privacy and legal issues
• Develop protocol for data-sharing agreements
• Address policy and process issues
• Develop template for business associate agreements

Communication, Education and Collaboration Committee

• Consumer education and engagement
• Provider education and engagement
• Communication strategy
• Marketing
• Stakeholder education and engagement

Technology Committee

• Finalize asset inventory assessment
• Identify requirements
• Participate in the development of technical design

Quality and Outcomes Committee

• Determine community health outcomes
• Identify research opportunities
• Address care coordination

For more information about the KC-BHIE or the new committees, please contact Doug Smith.

Regional Children’s Behavioral Health Council discusses available services

The second meeting of the Regional Children’s Behavioral Health Council was held on June 10 at the MARC Conference Center. Patsy Carter, director of children’s services at the Missouri Department of Mental Health, shared a PowerPoint presentation that compared Missouri’s currently available children’s mental health services with services that would be needed for the region to have a balanced system of care.

Committee members discussed the relationship between the number of inpatient hospital beds and the availability of community supports and services and, after much discussion, determined that the number of inpatient hospital beds currently available is adequate, and that funding that may become available through the closure of the children’s unit at Western Missouri Mental Health Center would be best used to develop a system to support children in their home communities.

The next meeting of the Regional Children’s Behavioral Health Council is scheduled for July 24, from 9–11 a.m. in the MARC Board Room, 600 Broadway, Kansas City, Mo. The committee members will finalize recommendations for the Missouri Department of Mental Health. For more information, or if you would like to attend the meeting, please contact Laura McCrary.

Tsemberis to lead retreat for Metropolitan Mental Health Stakeholders

On August 25, Sam J. Tsemberis, Ph.D., will lead an all-day retreat for Kansas City area stakeholders who are working to transform housing for individuals with behavioral health needs. The meeting is sponsored by the Lilly USA foundation and will be held at the MARC Conference Center.

The development of a housing road map for individuals with behavioral health needs is a top regional priority for the Metropolitan Mental Health Stakeholders. When completed in fall 2009, the road map will outline strategies necessary to move from the current fragmented housing system to a regionally coordinated housing vision for people with behavioral health needs. The meeting with Dr. Tsemberis will begin to frame a vision for three, five and 10 years from now. This priority was identified in the 2009 behavioral health needs assessment conducted by Health Management Associates and adopted by the Metropolitan Mental Health Stakeholders as a critical need for the Kansas City community.

Dr. Tsemberis founded Pathways to Housing after working with various housing programs with limited success and realizing that homeless people were not the problem — homelessness was. Pathways to Housing works from the principle that people who are chronically homeless need housing first and that housing is a basic right for all people. The organization provides immediate access to permanent, independent apartments to individuals who are homeless and who have psychiatric disabilities and substance-use disorders. Pathways to Housing is dedicated to working with people whom others reject or dismiss as beyond the possibility of treatment or recovery.

Dr. Tsemberis is on the faculty of the Department of Psychiatry at the New York University Medical Center. He has served as the principal investigator for federally funded studies of homelessness, mental illness and substance abuse, and has published numerous articles and book chapters on these topics. He currently provides training and technical assistance to agencies across the country that are implementing the Housing First model.

Attendance at the meeting is limited to task force members. If you are not a task force member but would like to attend, please contact Laura McCrary by Aug. 1 to determine space availability.

Survey focuses on safety net education and training needs

The Education and Training Committee of the Safety Net Collaborative has asked all safety net clinics to participate in a survey of the education and training needs of safety net providers. Survey results will be used to assess where education/training courses are offered throughout the safety net system and what trainings are available.

The survey will provide the data necessary to begin aligning similar training and education opportunities and raising awareness of unique trainings available through other organizations. This initiative has the potential to reduce administrative costs associated with each organization maintaining its own comprehensive training/education program, as well as to expand training and education options available to health care providers in the Kansas City region. For more information about safety net training and/or education, please contact Amy Falk.