Thursday, November 21, 2024
11/21/2024
The Iowa Department of Health and Human Services (Iowa HHS) is proud of the behavioral health (BH) services offered to our residents, but we recognize the need to expand comprehensive, person-centered, trauma-informed, and evidence-based care to Iowans who experience BH conditions, particularly those with the most serious BH needs. Under our project titled the Iowa Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinic (CCBHC) Planning Grant, and through our participation in the CCBHC Demonstration Program, Iowa will certify and reimburse eligible clinics that serve individuals with BH conditions, including individuals with Serious Emotional Disturbance (SED), Serious Mental Illness (SMI), and significant Substance Use Disorders (SUD). Certified CCBHC will be available to serve Iowa’s residents who have a BH need, including an estimated 573,500 with Any Mental Illness and 248,000 with a SUD. Iowa HHS is committed to ensuring access to culturally competent services for members of historically underserved and marginalized groups, as well as members of groups experiencing poor behavioral health outcomes, including youth and adolescents experiencing SED and substance use (SU) conditions, adults with SMI and/or significant SUD, pregnant and parenting women, and veterans. While Iowa HHS is very proud of the service delivery systems we have built, and our success in weaving those service delivery systems together, we recognize that significant barriers remain that prevent Iowans from achieving optimal health outcomes. Both stakeholders and data analyses point us to vulnerable communities and priority populations that have the greatest needs for increased capacity and access. Iowa HHS will leverage the CCBHC initiative to promote further integration and alignment with the healthcare delivery system, increase the system’s capacity to offer evidence-based practices, and standardize service delivery. The CCBHC stakeholder engagement, technical assistance, learning community, and certification readiness activities will aid in improving outcomes for CCBHCs and their Designated Collaborative Organizations. We will support our provider community as they implement the cultural, procedural, and organizational changes necessary to become CCBHCs and deliver high quality, comprehensive, person-centered, and evidence-based services that are accessible to the populations of focus. This will require us to assist CCBHCs with improving the cultural diversity and competence of their workforce by recruiting from the populations of focus and providing evidence-based resources and supports to promote their skills and build career ladders. The process of developing the initiative and preparing providers to participate in it will make it possible for Iowa HHS to build the capacity of our providers, and the accountability CCBHC funding will make it possible for Iowa HHS to ensure that the additional capacity is targeted at the needs of our priority populations. In doing so, CCBHC will enable Iowa HHS to ensure that people with SMI, youth with SED, people with significant SUD, pregnant and parenting women, veterans, adolescents with depression and/or SUD, and historically underserved minority communities can access high quality services. Iowa HHS will collaborate with potential CCBHCs and other state-level partners to ensure consistent, accurate, and timely collection, monitoring, and interpretation of required performance measures. The Iowa Behavioral Health Reporting System (IBHRS) will act as the primary information infrastructure for the BH data needed to report measures.
HHS’ Tracking Accountability in Government Grants System (TAGGS) website provides access to detailed descriptions of grants, loans, aggregated direct payments and other types of financial assistance awarded by the HHS Operating Divisions (OPDIVs) and the Office of the Secretary Staff Divisions (STAFFDIVs).
