Behavioral Health

/Behavioral Health

Behavioral Health covers topics dealing with mental health in our state. This ranges from information about programs to help individuals have good mental health to Governmental topics like Regional Behavioral Health Authorities.

Behavioral Health Services in SE Arizona

By | September 13th, 2010|Behavioral Health|

Folks that receive publicly-funded behavioral health services in Cochise, Santa Cruz, Greenlee and Graham Counties will soon transition to a new Regional Behavioral Health Authority (RBHA).  In March, ADHS awarded contracts for all of the areas outside of Maricopa County.  We awarded the contract for Cochise, Santa Cruz, Greenlee and Graham Counties to Cenpatico Behavioral [...]

Behavioral Health Medicine Transition Update

By | September 9th, 2010|Behavioral Health|

As you recall, the ADHS budget reduction last fiscal year required us to scale back the services we provide to folks who were receiving behavioral health services but don’t qualify for AHCCCS (called Non-Title XIX).  We also needed to switch to a “generic formulary” for Non-Title XIX folks on July 1 (which saves about $7M/year).  [...]

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Behavioral Health Performance Improvements

By | September 7th, 2010|Behavioral Health|

By working closely with our behavioral health contractors over the last couple of years we’ve been able to make some significant improvements in the quality of care that we’re providing.  Examples of our accomplishments are available in newly created outcome dashboards developed by CPSA, NARBHA, Cenpatico and Magellan.  The dashboards provide monthly reports using web-based [...]

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Council of State Government’s Award Nomination

By | September 2nd, 2010|Behavioral Health|

In early September the Council of State Governments (CSG) will be awarding their highly competitive CSG Awards for innovative practices.  Magellan Health Services of Arizona is a regional finalist for the award because of their innovative online provider outcomes dashboard.  The dashboard has been a partnership between our Division of Behavioral Services, Magellan and 4 [...]

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Acting Shmackting

By | September 2nd, 2010|Behavioral Health, General, Preparedness|

I’m glad to announce that Rodgers Wilson, MD is our permanent Behavioral Health Medical Director. Dr. Wilson oversees the clinical/prevention and quality management/medical management areas of our behavioral health system.  He has spearheaded Quarterly Health Initiatives that address common physical health needs among individuals with behavioral health illnesses and is currently developing collaborative training programs [...]

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Check out Arizona’s 2009 Behavioral Risk Factor Survey

By | August 31st, 2010|Behavioral Health, Preparedness, Prevention|

Decades ago, how long you lived depended mostly on fate.  Infectious diseases, poor sanitation and unsafe conditions called the shots.  However, because of advances in public health, much of the fate part is gone and the risk factors for premature death are dominated by behavioral and lifestyle choices.  Of course, income and access to resources [...]

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Inpatient Behavioral Health Hospitals Licensing

By | August 25th, 2010|Behavioral Health, General|

For many years, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has required inpatient hospitals that serve people under 21 to be accredited by The Joint Commission (formerly called the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations or JCAHO).  Because the Commission standards are pretty rigorous, we’ve had limited network capacity for the inpatient treatment [...]

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Magellan Year 5

By | August 12th, 2010|Behavioral Health, General|

Last month we approved the renewal of the fifth and final year of the Magellan behavioral health contract in Maricopa County.   Before making the decision to grant the 5th year of the contract, our team assessed the progress that has been made in various areas, including access to and coordination of care; grievance and appeal [...]

Arizona’s Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan Goes Live

By | August 6th, 2010|Behavioral Health, General|

Some of the folks that we serve in our diverse mission have complicated medical conditions and may have had trouble in the past finding health insurance because of a pre-existing health problem.  The new federal healthcare reform law may be able to help some of these folks under the newly created “Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan (PCIP)”…  [...]

Mental Health ED Visits

By | August 3rd, 2010|Behavioral Health, Licensing|

Did you know that nearly 1/8 of all emergency department visits in the US are because of a mental disorder, substance abuse problem or both? A new federal report found that depression and other mood disorders accounted for 43% of behavioral health visits, 26% were for anxiety disorders and 23% involved alcohol-related problems. These data are [...]

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