Mental health services will become more robust in Southwest Washington in 2015.
Southwest Washington Behavioral Health is adding nearly $9 million of mental health services next year. The expansion includes contracts with five new providers and expanded contracts for new services with three current providers.
Each of the contracts includes one year of mental health services with one-year extension options for a total of $8,898,647. Southwest Washington Behavioral Health currently provides about $28 million in outpatient services.
“The expanded services will not only help fill gaps throughout the region, but proposals received from service providers will also deliver evidence-based practices, diversions from jails and hospitals, integrated physical health, mental health and chemical dependency services and specialized care for children,” said Connie Mom-Chhing, chief executive officer of Southwest Washington Behavioral Health, in a news release.
Southwest Washington Behavioral Health administers and coordinates mental health care for regional Medicaid clients who have higher-level diagnoses and needs. The network contracts with area mental health organizations to provide those services to people in Clark, Cowlitz and Skamania counties.
The number of people eligible for mental health services through the regional support network has grown by more than 30,000 since the Medicaid program expanded this year.
As more people become eligible for those services, the amount of money the network receives from the state to provide services increases, said Marc Bollinger, the network’s chief clinical officer.
In June, the network asked mental health agencies to submit program ideas for funding consideration. On Dec. 12, the network’s governing board approved the new and expanded contracts. Here are the agencies awarded contracts for new services:
• Children’s Home Society of Washington (Clark County), $456,718: Mental health services to child trauma victims exhibiting behavioral problems.
• Children’s Home Society of Washington (rural north Clark County and south Cowlitz County), $323,072: Specialized mental health services to children ages 3 to 18.
• Telecare Corp. (Clark County), $940,822: Peer-based case management services for individuals discharged from the evaluation and treatment facility who need intensive after-care services.
• A First Place (Cowlitz County), $837,200: Specialized treatment program that addresses the complex needs of individuals with co-occurring disorders and a history of interpersonal violence. This is a new service provider.
• Community House on Broadway (Cowlitz County), $1,156,720: Mental health services to homeless individuals. This is a new service provider.
• Cowlitz County Health Department nurse/family partnership, $195,852: A model home visitation program for pregnant women with formal mental health diagnoses. This is a new service provider.
• Cowlitz County Human Services Department, $208,318: Health care coordination program for individuals who have both serious mental illness and chronic physical illness. This is a new service provider.
• Love Overwhelming (Cowlitz County), $904,090: Recovery-oriented treatment program for individuals with severe and persistent mental illness and co-occurring disorders.
• Strengthening Foundations (Cowlitz County), $600,000: Mental health services for youth ages 11 to 18 and their families who have been referred for behavioral or emotional problems by the juvenile justice, mental health, school or child welfare systems. This is a new service provider.
• Cowlitz County Guidance Association, $2,000,000: New integration of behavioral and physical health services.
• Cowlitz County Guidance Association, $727,755: Supported housing program for people with multiple psychiatric hospitalizations and habitual use of emergency services and involvement with criminal justice system.
• Cowlitz County Guidance Association, $548,100: Coordination of pediatric mental health care for all Medicaid-eligible children who visit the St. John Medical Center emergency department and are discharged with a mental health diagnosis.
