I’ve written often over the last few weeks about our priority over the next couple of years to better integrate primary healthcare and psychiatric care in AZ, and that last week HHS approved the Health Homes Planning Grant which will focus on improving coordination of care and increasing access to primary care and prevention services, resulting in meaningful improvements in quality of life and health status.
Making integration happen effectively will take coordination among numerous parts of the Department (much like the work that was required for medical marijuana). We’ll need to coordinate updated IT and business needs as well as public health prevention and licensing, and of course behavioral health. Licensing will be an especially important partner because our medical and behavioral health licensing teams inspect AZ treatment facilities.
One of the challenges that we’ve been facing as we begin our integration efforts is that the licensing rules for medical and behavioral health facilities sometimes make integration more difficult than it needs to be, and one of our goals over the coming months is to overhaul our administrative code (rules) for behavioral health facilities. In the mean time, our offices of Medical and Behavioral Health Licensing has been working very closely with a number of our service providers in the central, eastern and southern areas of the state to ease the licensing process as Arizona embraces integrative health care. Presently, there are a series of projects under construction that we anticipate will be looking to license this summer.
As part of our overall planning for the implementation of integrative health care, we’ve been connecting with prospective licensees to provide technical assistance, concentrating on architectural requirements and rule and service delivery. By taking a proactive stance with licensees, we can cut down on additional visits to the site to navigate compliance at a later date. That way, providers can start meeting the needs of their community in underserved areas.
I’d be interested in knowing more about the licensing aspect of integrative care and changes you are proposing. As a Licensed Professional Counselor in the State of Michigan, I earned my LPC by doing work in the field of health-self-management, using therapeutic interventions to help with depression, anxiety, grief, etc, which the State of Arizona recognizes for licensure. Yet part of my hours were earned facilitating and overseeing the Chronic Disease Self-Management program, an excellent model known as “Living Well” in Arizona. The licensing board will not recognize this work as part of the hours I am allowed to earn for my LPC, thus the license and many years helping people better manage their health will not be recognized in Arizona, where I plan to relocate. Could you please keep me informed on this work you are doing? My experience fits perfectly into the integration movement and has been very effective in Michigan. Yet Arizona would have to recognize what they call “psycho-education,” as part of their licensure to be able to utilize this and allow me to transfer my license and skills to Arizona. Thanks for your consideration of this.
Bobbe Taber,
Here is a link for you to take a look at.
http://www.azdhs.gov/diro/admin_rules/behavioralhealth.htm