We are proud of the great proposals that we received. BHT is working to formalize partnerships with six organizations that have the potential to be funded for 2 years. The projects selected will touch across housing, food, transportation, education, primary, and behavioral health settings.
Read MoreSee summaries of notable Technical Council activities for February 1–29, 2020.
News and updates from the Navigator team, including the dates for this year’s open enrollment.
Read MoreBHT wrote the Spokane City Council members in support of the changes to the noise ordinance being considered on Monday, March 2, 2020. Please see the letter, copied below.
RE: Proposed Noise Ordinance to Protect Health Care Facilities
Dear City Council Members:
We support the proposed changes before City Council give the City of Spokane greater authority to enforce the City’s noise ordinance and protect health care patients and staff.
As the Accountable Community of Health (ACH) organization responsible for the Medicaid Transformation efforts in Eastern Washington, BHT is charged with implementing efforts to improve the health of our region. For the past five years, we’ve connected, convened, and financially supported health care providers in our region to accomplish this goal.
We strongly believe that reproductive health care is health care. Better Health Together is proud to partner with Planned Parenthood of Greater Washington and North Idaho to improve the health of our Spokane community. In addition to the critical work they do for reproductive health, in the last year Planned Parenthood of Greater Washington and North Idaho has expanded to offer mental health services, a severe shortage in our community, as well as increased primary care services.
City Council member Lori Kinnear’s ordinance to address noise at health care facilities will help protect the health and safety of our community members accessing health care in Spokane. The proposed changes before City Council give the City of Spokane greater authority to enforce the City’s noise ordinance and a private right of action for impacted staff and patients.
Thank you for your consideration,
Alison Poulsen
Executive Director
Better Health Together
For other resources and calendar, see Collaborative main page here.
Opportunities for providers to observe ECHO sessions related to offering MAT and pain management
Read MoreCurious about how BHT scored on the Organizational Equity Assessment? Read how we did and what we plan to do with the information.
Read MoreHere you will find the latest news regarding our Technical Assistance Bank for contracted partners. We hope you find value in the Technical Assistance Bank again this year!
The University of Washington’s Advanced Integrated Mental Health Solutions (AIMS) Center develops, tests, and helps organizations implement collaborative care and bi-directional integration strategies. BHT has partnered with the AIMS Center to offer our network of contracted partners technical assistance related to implementation support, coaching, education, and workforce development throughout 2020. Learn more about the AIMS Center here.
For Primary Care Practices:
Basic or advanced topics around coding/billing for behavioral health in primary care
Deep dive into your practice’s financing and billing options/challenges utilizing the AIMS Center Financial Modeling Workbook
Hiring Behavioral Health Providers tips and tricks
Evidence-based behavioral health interventions for Behavioral Health Clinicians in primary care such as problem solving treatment and behavioral activation
How to set up a Behavioral Health Clinicians schedule in primary care that aligns with your program’s overall goals and vision
Fine tuning a behavioral health screening workflow and using continuous quality improvement to improve the workflow
For Behavioral Health Agencies:
A deeper dive into current state workflows for physical health screening and identifying opportunities for improvement
Helping with decision-making about the most impactful use of limited resources for integration in a given agency
Sitting in on team meetings to help build team's skills around discussing client cases and maximizing use of team meetings
Coaching on how to effectively build relationships with primary care partners
Helping a team determine what physical health measure to track and implement a population health management strategy
If you have a TA need that is not listed above, please reach out and we will do our best to connect you to the appropriate resource. If you have any questions, please reach out to Sarah at sarah@betterhealthtogether.org or Symetria at symetria@betterhealthtogether.org.
On the right side of the Learning Cohort webpage you will find a button to “Request Technical Assistance“
Click the button and complete the Technical Assistance Request Form
Once received, BHT will connect you with the AIMS Center
Together we accomplish health system transformation!
The AIMS Center has been very responsive and available to meet with us when needed. We have been meeting 1-2 times a month for several months. The feedback is that the discussions have been very helpful to understand a model for CHAS and inform our BH Associate program definition. We’ve had a couple major changes in BH staff lately, so things have slowed down a bit in using AIMS support. But their expertise in Collaborative Care is unparalleled and much appreciated. They have been flexible and allowed us to learn and consider approaches that are unique to our situation, staffing, and patient situations.
Mike Wiser, CHAS
January 2020
Alison talks about our organizational journey to explore what we mean by “health equity” and how we could make it actionable.
Read MoreExciting things are happening at all our rural Collaboratives! All counties have their inequity identified as well as their target population and have outlined strategies to tackle the work. Click on the link to see the important work they have planned.
Read MoreSee summaries of notable Technical Council activities for January 1–31, 2020.
BHT welcomes ADEPT Behavioral Health, Compassionate Addiction Treatment Center, and Volunteers of America to our Network!
Since 2014, BHT has been the Lead Organization of our region’s Navigator Network. Over 130 Navigators from more than 20 organizations make up the network, which spans seven counties in Eastern Washington. The Navigators assist all customers with health insurance needs like enrollment, renewals, program eligibility, and document submission.
As the lead org, BHT provides the Network’s Navigators with semi-annual training, technical assistance, and general insurance advice. BHT has led this network of Navigators through seven open enrollment periods. In 2019, our Network assisted over 21,000 customers with their insurance applications. BHT would like to congratulate our Network partners for their efforts.
Navigator Network Organizations
http://www.betterhealthtogether.org/bold-solutions-content/bht-legislative-day-update
Read MoreHCA has updated the Community Behavioral Health Reporting & Data Standardization FAQ document to answer more commonly asked questions about HCA’s Corrective Action Plan with SAMHSA and behavioral health supplemental transactions.
Read MoreInformation about the timeline, workshops, and Transformation Plan templates for January Cohort Year 2 contracting.
Read MoreThe HCA has created several guidance documents to help with questions around Service Encounter Reporting Instructions (SERI) and enrollment of National Provider Identifiers (NPI).
Updated 01/23/20 with important corrections to HCA Interim SERI Guidance.
Read MoreRound-up of contacts and resources BHT has received from the MCOs.
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