Like many in the United States, Ohioans are experiencing a historic shortage of behavioral health resources. But population health management tools from Alera Health will help the Ohio Behavioral Health Provider Network better integrate mental health care.
Meanwhile, the state’s Miami University has awarded $1 million in funding to the Ohio Population Health Alliance for the Southern Ohio Behavioral Health Corridor to support future behavioral health practitioners committed to working in rural areas of the state.
WHY IT MATTERS
In 2020, the Appalachian Regional Commission said in its report Creating a Culture of Health in Appalachia: Disparities and Bright Spots that mental health service provision per 100,000 people in Appalachia, Ohio is 51% lower than the national average and 41% lower than the average in non-Appalachia Ohio.
Furthermore, the report notes that the suicide rate among people in poverty, among other key findings, was 19 percent higher than the national rate and 26 percent higher than the rate in non-Appalachian Ohio at the time.
Since then, efforts have been made to improve care for people diagnosed with primary or secondary behavioral health conditions as well as develop a larger behavioral health workforce.
On Monday, OBHPN announced a new partnership with Alera to build a clinically integrated network aimed at expanding access to care, improving health outcomes and reducing costs, according to an announcement from the population health management company.
OBHPN specializes in integrating behavioral health and primary care services provided by more than 25 hospitals, Certified Community Behavioral Health Centers, Federally Qualified Health Centers, and social services to more than 225,000 Ohioans in 66 Ohio counties.
The organization’s providers serve more than half of the state’s population with serious and persistent mental illness, and they serve as a safety net for people with comorbid medical and behavioral health conditions, according to Alera.
The company says the new digital infrastructure — including data analytics and other care coordination resources — will help OBHPN providers address a historically underserved patient population with complex behavioral, medical and social needs.
Alera said self-managed ONEcare networks will have access to clinical and operational process improvements and remote patient engagement tools that enhance value-based care arrangements, recognize and incentivize increased access to care, patient outreach and satisfaction, preventative care and avoidance of unnecessary medical costs.
“OBHPN is ready to take another step toward the future – a future where patients with behavioral health issues can expect to be treated with care and respect, and where behavioral health providers are recognized for the vital role they play in providing comprehensive, integrated care for the whole person,” Eric Morse, CEO of the Center and chair of the OBHPN Board of Directors, said in the statement.
“OBHPN believes that our partnership with Alera Health will provide us with the experienced contract, data, and care coordination support we need to take this next step.”
Meanwhile, last month, Ohio University announced that with $669,843 of a $1 million grant from Miami University, the Ohio Population Health Alliance will establish a behavioral health corridor across southern Ohio to increase support for students pursuing behavioral health careers.
The Southern Ohio Behavioral Health Corridor is a partnership between two universities and five two-year colleges across Southern Ohio and is funded by the Ohio Department of Higher Education.
While addressing a wide range of issues, the Alliance also engages managers, healthcare professionals, academic researchers and policy experts from more than 50 affiliated universities, hospital associations and healthcare providers.
The grant will provide scholarships, living stipends and paid internships for students from high school sophomores to graduate students, according to the news.
But an important part is encouraging students who have not yet completed their degrees and others who plan to stay in the area to complete their programs and provide much-needed behavioral health services in rural areas.
“The shortage of behavioral health professionals in Southern and Appalachian Ohio is not just a statistic, but a crisis that is leaving individuals and families without the support and care they need,” Caitlyn Riederer, interim executive director of human resources at Integrated Services for Behavioral Health, said in a statement.
“Diversifying pathways into the workforce and supporting workers’ continued education will enhance the system’s ability to address behavioral health and its social determinants in homes, clinics, libraries, schools and communities across the region,” added Justin Wheeler, associate professor of instruction in the College of Health Sciences at Ohio University.
THE BIGGER TREND
In April, Brian Dixon, a research scientist at Indiana University’s Regenstrief Institute and interim director of the Clem McDonald Center for Biomedical Informatics, spoke with Healthcare IT News on new analytical strategies for patient-centered public health.
Encouraging patients to be more actively involved in their health care and involving them in shared decision-making is key to addressing public health challenges, he said.
Developing patient analytics for public health can no longer be done solely by combining electronic health record data filled in by health care providers. Data provided by patients themselves, remote monitoring, and other sources, such as social determinants of health data, are needed to break down silos.
To better analyze patient conditions, “there are a number of ways to incorporate data into the workflow,” he said, and the challenge is getting data from multiple devices into enterprise systems.
As the healthcare industry has always done, “we’re still doing things in a pretty siloed way,” Dixon said, “but that’s something we need to think about: how do we move from having a great app here and a great device there that we have from different companies to a real ecosystem” that serves different patient populations.
ON PROFILE
“With behavioral health healthcare costs 3.5 times higher than normal, we believe the only sustainable solution is to build communities of care across providers that partner with individuals with behavioral health issues,” Mike Rhoades, CEO of Alera Health, said in a statement.
“Both the opioid epidemic and COVID have made it clear that behavioral health is a personal issue for all of us. It’s time to take that personal impact and use it to inspire real and sustainable change to the systems of care that support individuals with behavioral health issues.”
Andrea Fox is senior editor of Healthcare IT News.
Email: [email protected]
Healthcare IT News is a publication of HIMSS Media.
