Larry J. Hogan, Jr., Governor
Boyd Rutherford, Lieutenant Governor
Dennis R. Schrader, DHMH Secretary
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Allan Anderson, M.D.
Elizabeth Chung
Maritha R. Gay
J. Wayne Howard
William Jaquis, M.D.
Surina Jordan, Ph.D.
Barry Ronan
Carol Ivy Simmons, PhD.
Julie Wagner
Anthony C. Wisniewski
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Promising Practices: How Leading Safety-Net Plans Are Managing The Care Of Medicaid Clients
An article on the management of Medicaid clients has been published in the February 2017 issue of the journal "Health Affairs".
This paper reports results of an empirical study of safety-net health plans.
The authors identified eighty-three of these plans around the nation, with a median Medicaid enrollment of just over 30,000. This paper is based primarily on interviews with plan officials and providers at six plans that were visited during 2000, plus telephone interviews conducted in 2001 with officials at four additional plans, supplemented with survey results we obtained from fifty-six plans in 2000.
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SAMHSA Releases Resourses and Tools to Address the Effects of Severe Weather on Behavioral Health
webinars and podcasts
on an array of topics, and
tip sheets
for first responders, community leaders, and disaster survivors. In addition, SAMHSA's Crisis Counseling Assistance and Training program offers direct, face-to-face psycho-educational outreach and resources. For more information on these SAMHSA resources, click here.
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The National Cancer Institute and American Cancer Society Develop a Web-Based Tool to Help Empower Cancer Survivors
NIH's National Cancer Institute (NCI) and the American Cancer Society (ACS) have collaborated to develop a free, mobile-friendly web tool,
Springboard Beyond Cancer
, to help empower cancer survivors to play a key role in managing their own health. The tool makes it easy for those in treatment and post-treatment to access essential information to help them manage ongoing cancer-related symptoms, deal with stress, improve healthy behaviors, communicate better with their health care team, and seek support from friends and family. Click here for more information about Springboard Beyond Cancer.
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Eighteen applicants invited to present to the Commission on March 14, 2017
The CHRC's Call for Proposals released this year generated 77 applications requesting $48.9 million in funding. Proposals were evaluated by independent reviewers on 7 review criteria listed in the Call for Proposals, and each applicant received a score on a 100-point scale. Based on this review, 18 top-scoring applicants have been selected to present to the CHRC Commissioners on
Tuesday, March 14, 2017 at 1:00 p.m
. in Annapolis, Room 150, House of Delegates. This meeting will be open to the public.
Grant award decisions are expected to be made by the CHRC Commissioners following these presentations. Click
here
for a brief overview of the applicants invited to present to the CHRC.
Five types of projects were targeted in the FY 2017 RFP: (1) Expanding access to primary and preventative care services and chronic disease management; (2) Integrating behavioral health service delivery and addressing the heroin and opioid epidemic; (3) Addressing childhood and family obesity and promoting food security; (4) Expanding access to dental care; and (5) Promoting comprehensive women's health services and reducing infant mortality rates.
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MACHC invites CHRC to participate in webinars on behavioral health and dental programs
The CHRC was recently invited by the Mid-Atlantic Association of Community Health Centers (MACHC) to participate in two webinars focusing on behavioral health and dental programs. Click on the following links to see the behavioral health and dental
presentations given during these webinars.
MACHC's membership includes all 16 federally qualified health centers in the State which, by their designations, are located in medically underserved areas and serve the very population the CHRC was created to address. Throughout its existence, MACHC has worked collaboratively with the CHRC to achieve its objective of expanding access to high quality health care services to all Maryland residents.
For more information about MACHC, click
here
.
CHRC has funded 27 programs for a total of $8.9 million in federally qualified health centers. These programs have served 46,842 individuals.
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CHRC submits budget testimony to Senate Budget & Taxation and House Appropriations Committees
The CHRC submitted its budget testimony to the Senate Budget & Taxation Health and Human Services Subcommittee and House Appropriations Health and Human Resources Subcommittee earlier this month. Click
here f
or one of these presentations, which describes the CHRC's impact in promoting projects that are innovative, replicable, sustainable, and help generate cost-savings.
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Way Station's program (Behavioral Health Home Pilot) highlighted in The Washington Post
Way Station Inc., a community behavioral health provider in Frederick County, was highlighted in the
Washington Post
on January 21, 2016.
The article describes how Way Station integrates people with mental illnesses into their communities.
Way Station has received several grants from the Commission and has utilized this funding to provide a broad range of health care and social support services for children and adults with significant mental health needs. Most recently, CHRC funds supported Way Station's implementation of a state demonstration program that piloted the enhancement of community behavioral health organizations to become the medical homes for adults and children with serious mental health needs or substance use disorders. The Way Station pilot utilized several intervention strategies to integrate primary care with behavioral health, including the embedding of primary care nurse case managers into community mental health teams. The initial CHRC grant for Way Station's pilot helped lay the groundwork for the new Medicaid Health Home Program, a statewide initiative launched by DHMH in 2013, which has helped community behavioral health agencies to develop 81 health home programs throughout Maryland. CHRC funds ($170,000) were used by Way Station to leverage $1 million in additional funding from private sources. The Washington Post article notes the effectiveness of Way Station's Health Home.
The CHRC
prioritizes supporting programs that promote the functional integration of behavioral health services and primary care and expand the capacity to deliver behavioral health services in community-based settings. The Commission has awarded 31 grants totaling $10 million, supporting programs in 16 jurisdictions.
For more information about CHRC's behavioral health grants, click
here.
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Allegany Health Right highlighted in the American Journal of Public Health
Allegany Health Right, a provider of dental care for low-income, uninsured/underinsured adults in Allegany County, was recently highlighted in the December 2016 issue of the American Journal of Public Health. The
article
describes Allegany Health Right's expansion of its community dental access program in rural Maryland, which has provided reduced price urgent dental care to 1,600 low-income individuals. The authors conclude that effective ED dental diversion programs can result in substantial cost savings to taxpayers and more appropriate and cost-effective care for the patient. The authors found that grant dollars were leveraged 3 to 1, as there was a higher than 75% rate of donated care for dental patients.
Allegany Health Right has received several dental grants from the CHRC in recent years and leveraged CHRC funding to receive additional financial support from the Western Maryland Health System. The CHRC has awarded 31 grants totaling $6.3 million to support increasing access to dental services in the community. These dental programs have served more than 51,000 Marylanders in 16 jurisdictions. For more information about CHRC grant-funded dental programs, click
here
.
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