Human Services and Behavioral Health Integration: A Model for Whole-Person Medicaid Managed Care.

A comprehensive, whole-person approach to individuals' health care can be achieved by aligning, integrating, and coordinating health services with other human services. HealthChoices, Pennsylvania's managed Medicaid program, delegates responsibility for Medicaid-funded behavioral health service management to individual counties or multicounty collaboratives. County administrators' programmatic and fiscal oversight of Medicaid-funded services allows them to create synergies between behavioral health and other human service delivery systems and to set priorities on the basis of local needs. This model supports access to community-based care, integration of general medical and behavioral health services, and programs that address social determinants of health.

Association of Counseling and Psychotherapy on Retention in Medication for Addiction Treatment Within a Large Medicaid Population.

OBJECTIVES: Buprenorphine/naloxone is an effective medication for the treatment of opioid use disorder. Unlike methadone, which can only be dispensed in federally waived clinics and which must be combined with specific psychosocial treatment, buprenorphine can be dispensed by individual prescribers who have completed an 8-hour training program, with no requirement that patients receive concomitant psychotherapy. The objective of this study is to quantify the association of counseling and psychotherapy on retention in treatment. We also examine the effect of buprenorphine dosage on retention. METHODS: We examined a cohort of 4987 members of a not-for-profit managed care organization serving Medicaid members in 41 counties in Pennsylvania. This cohort was selected from all members who had a full year without any medication for opioid use disorder followed by initiation of treatment with buprenorphine/naloxone in 2016 to 2017 and who remained Medicaid eligible for at least 80% of the following 2 years. Outcomes were estimated using inverse probability weighted propensity scores. RESULTS: The addition of counseling and psychotherapy within the first 8 weeks of treatment was associated with greater total retention in treatment and there was a dose-response relationship. A 16 mg/d or greater dose of buprenorphine was also associated with greater retention. CONCLUSIONS: These results provide support for an integrated approach to treating people with an opioid use disorder, through a combination of buprenorphine pharmacotherapy and targeted counseling and psychotherapy within the first 2 months of treatment.

It's not just the money: The role of treatment ideology in publicly funded substance use disorder treatment.

Medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD) are a first-line treatment for opioid use disorder, yet national surveys indicate that most substance use treatment facilities do not offer MOUD. This article presents the results of a qualitative analysis of interviews with leaders from 25 treatment organizations in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, that investigated attitudes and barriers toward MOUD. Most treatment organizations that we interviewed are adopting at least one MOUD, suggesting that Philadelphia exceeds the national average of organizations with MOUD capacity. Leaders indicated that both practical resources and ideological barriers thwart adoption and implementation of MOUD in publicly funded substance use disorder treatment agencies. Organizations that had recently adopted MOUDs revealed facilitators to MOUD adoption, such as strong leadership that champions the implementation to staff and redefining recovery from substance use disorders throughout the organization. This study's findings highlight that clients, clinicians, and leadership need to address both practical and ideological barriers to expanding MOUD use.

Correction to: A repeated cross-sectional study of clinicians' use of psychotherapy techniques during 5 years of a system-wide effort to implement evidence-based practices in Philadelphia.

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A repeated cross-sectional study of clinicians' use of psychotherapy techniques during 5 years of a system-wide effort to implement evidence-based practices in Philadelphia.

BACKGROUND: Little work investigates the effect of behavioral health system efforts to increase use of evidence-based practices or how organizational characteristics moderate the effect of these efforts. The objective of this study was to investigate clinician practice change in a system encouraging implementation of evidence-based practices over 5 years and how organizational characteristics moderate this effect. We hypothesized that evidence-based techniques would increase over time, whereas use of non-evidence-based techniques would remain static. METHOD: Using a repeated cross-sectional design, data were collected three times from 2013 to 2017 in Philadelphia's public behavioral health system. Clinicians from 20 behavioral health outpatient clinics serving youth were surveyed three times over 5 years (n = 340; overall response rate = 60%). All organizations and clinicians were exposed to system-level support provided by the Evidence-based Practice Innovation Center from 2013 to 2017. Additionally, approximately half of the clinicians participated in city-funded evidence-based practice training initiatives. The main outcome included clinician self-reported use of cognitive-behavioral and psychodynamic techniques measured by the Therapy Procedures Checklist-Family Revised. RESULTS: Clinicians were 80% female and averaged 37.52 years of age (SD = 11.40); there were no significant differences in clinician characteristics across waves (all ps > .05). Controlling for organizational and clinician covariates, average use of CBT techniques increased by 6% from wave 1 (M = 3.18) to wave 3 (M = 3.37, p = .021, d = .29), compared to no change in psychodynamic techniques (p = .570). Each evidence-based practice training initiative in which clinicians participated predicted a 3% increase in CBT use (p = .019) but no change in psychodynamic technique use (p = .709). In organizations with more proficient cultures at baseline, clinicians exhibited greater increases in CBT use compared to organizations with less proficient cultures (8% increase vs. 2% decrease, p = .048). CONCLUSIONS: System implementation of evidence-based practices is associated with modest changes in clinician practice; these effects are moderated by organizational characteristics. Findings identify preliminary targets to improve implementation.

Therapist Financial Strain and Turnover: Interactions with System-Level Implementation of Evidence-Based Practices.

Therapist turnover is a major problem in community mental health. Financial strain, which is composed of cognitive, emotional, and behavioral responses to the experience of economic hardship, is an understudied antecedent of therapist turnover given the tumultuous financial environment in community mental health. We prospectively examined the relationship between therapist financial strain and turnover in 247 therapists in 28 community mental health agencies. We expected greater therapist financial strain to predict higher turnover and participation in a system-funded evidence-based practice (EBP) training initiative to alleviate this effect. Controlling for covariates, financial strain predicted therapist turnover (OR 1.12, p = .045), but not for therapists who participated in an EBP training initiative. Reducing financial strain and/or promoting EBP implementation may be levers to reduce turnover.

Independent Contractors in Public Mental Health Clinics: Implications for Use of Evidence-Based Practices.

OBJECTIVES: Community mental health clinics are increasingly utilizing independent contractors to provide clinical services. At the same time, many organizations are participating in initiatives intended to increase implementation of evidence-based practices (EBPs). The primary aim of this study was to understand the associations of utilizing independent contractors with clinician knowledge and attitudes toward EBPs and organizational culture and climate. The study also sought to understand the potential impact of using independent contractors on mental health services delivery from the perspective of organizational leadership. METHODS: Quantitative data were collected from 130 therapists in 23 organizations; qualitative data were collected from executive administrators in nine of the 16 organizations participating in EBP initiatives sponsored by the City of Philadelphia. Regression with random effects was used to estimate the associations between worker status (contractor or employee) and clinician attitudes toward EBPs, knowledge of EBPs, and organizational culture and climate. Qualitative inquiry was used to understand the impact of reliance on independent contractors on organizational participation in EBP initiatives. RESULTS: Independent contractors endorsed less positive attitudes toward EBPs and scored lower on knowledge of EBPs. Interviews revealed four main themes: reasons for using independent contractors, general consequences of using independent contractors, specific impact of independent contractors on participation in EBP initiatives, and suggestions for alternatives. CONCLUSIONS: A growing number of community mental health clinics rely on independent contractors. There may be consequences of this shift that deserve exploration.

The Perfect Storm: Collision of the Business of Mental Health and the Implementation of Evidence-Based Practices.

Financing has been hypothesized to be an important driver of the implementation of evidence-based practices (EBPs), yet there has been little systematic investigation of financing as a factor in EBP implementation. This column presents findings from a qualitative study of the effects of financial factors on the implementation of EBPs in a large urban publicly funded mental health system. Interviews with 33 agency leaders and 16 policy makers identified financial distress in community mental health agencies, leading to concerns about complex and expensive implementation of EBPs. Stakeholders agreed that the cost of EBP implementation should be shared between the agencies and the system; however, the stakeholders did not agree on how EBPs should be financed.