Designing Collaborative Models for Preventive Mental and Behavioral Health

The Opportunity

Genesis was engaged by a Medicaid accountable care organization (ACO) in New England to better understand the preventive and primary mental and behavioral health (M/BH) needs of children and families in its network, and how the ACO might leverage its resources to better address those needs as part of a system-wide commitment to improving mental and behavioral health outcomes.

Approach

Genesis conducted an environmental scan of the population’s existing preventive and primary M/BH resources across clinical, payer, community-based organization, school, and other domains. This information was complemented by a national scan of emerging preventive M/BH models and analysis of M/BH claims and administrative data available for the attributed population. Insights from qualitative and quantitative analyses illuminated a clear opportunity to advance primary M/BH prevention through a community-based approach.

Outcomes

Genesis designed a framework for a co-developed community-based approach to primary behavioral and mental health. This framework utilizes equity principles to guide community members through a series of questions and exercises to identify local priorities, connect with local resources to provide family support, and integrate with clinical services when appropriate. In addition, given the client’s highly dynamic environment, Genesis provided the ACO with several implementation scenarios to show how the ACO could scale programming by combining key variables, e.g., people and expertise, time and resources.

Key Success Factors

The process energized leaders across the ACO pediatric continuum and the community, prompting shifts in thinking and approaches to managing child behavioral and mental health needs. Additionally, multiple vetted scenarios enable the client to quickly pivot or accelerate strategy implementation as markets change or opportunities arise.