MassHealth will develop and provide technical assistance to LEAs that will build their capacity to deliver BH services while seeking reimbursement that sustains BH services and staffing. - In the five years post “Free-Care” expansion, most Massachusetts Lead Education Agencies (LEAs) have not taken full advantage of the potential for increased Medicaid reimbursement, most notably with behavioral health services. This represents missed opportunities to access federal funding that could sustain and enhance BH staffing, services, and programming in schools. If awarded, the MassHealth School-Based Medicaid Program (SBMP) will partner with the state’s School-Based Behavioral Health Technical Assistance (SBBH TA) Center to develop and pilot a comprehensive and scalable model for school-based behavioral health (BH) that integrates Medicaid claiming requirements. The SBBH TA Center is based jointly in the Boston and Amherst campuses of the University of Massachusetts and has been piloting a regional model of technical assistance to support school districts in planning and implementing comprehensive approaches to SBBH. The SBBH TA Center will be designated as a sub-recipient. The total budget for this project is $2.5 million dollars. During Year 1, the SBBH TA Center will build on the current successes of the SBMP by identifying exemplar districts, conducting focus groups and interviews with these districts, and consolidating findings to highlight best practices throughout the regions. Findings will inform activities in Years 2 and 3. During years 2 and 3, the collaboration will focus on regional coaching and professional learning communities (PLC) to build capacity of school and district leaders to organize comprehensive school behavioral health programs that also meet SBMP requirements for reimbursement. To support their planning efforts, each participating LEA in each cohort (years 2 and 3) will receive a stipend for an identified clinical/administrative leader. To participate and receive the stipend, an LEA must already be enrolled in SBMP prior to the grant and have documented support from their Superintendent to participate in TA activities, identify a planning team, commit to sustaining the BH leadership role and to working with their municipality on sharing agreements. All SBMP and SBBH professional development resources resulting from the project would be freely available to all LEAs. During Year 2, the trainings and supports will be piloted in 10% (roughly 40) of LEAs. We will evaluate participant satisfaction and impact on Medicaid reimbursement through increased claim volume for BH services, both IEP and non-IEP, and improved Random Moment Time Study (RMTS) responses. Similarly, in Year 3, an additional 20% (roughly 80) of districts will receive targeted Technical Assistance (TA), with necessary improvements and modifications informed by the Year 2 cohort. The SBBH TA Center will continue providing TA and coaching support to the first cohort of LEAs (Year 2), though stipends will not be available in hopes that the reimbursement funding, in addition to LEA budgeting decisions, can sustain the leadership role. Though the term of this grant is three years, increased capacity for LEAs to provide evidence based, comprehensive SBBH will support maximizing federal reimbursement for those services past the end of the grant, sustaining and expanding services available to meet student need.
