Health Care Innovation Awards: Kitsap Mental Health Services Project Profile

Project Title: "Race to health: coordination, integration, and innovations in care"
Geographic Reach: Washington
Funding Amount: $1,858,437
Estimated 3-Year Savings: $5,800,000

Summary

Kitsap Mental Health Services of Kitsap County, Washington received an award to coordinate and integrate care for one thousand severely mentally ill adults and 100 severely emotionally disturbed children with at least one co-morbidity almost all of them Medicaid, Medicare, and/or CHIP beneficiaries. Research shows health care for the severely mentally ill/severely emotionally disturbed population is often fragmented, ineffective, and inefficient, resulting in poor health and premature death. Through multi-disciplinary care coordination teams providing integrated behavioral health (mental health and co-occurring substance use disorder) management, tighter care coordination with primary care, and a bi-directional model supporting community-based primary care providers with psychiatric consultation, training, and brief interventions, the project is expected to improve beneficiary health and reduce avoidable emergency room visits and hospitalizations with an estimated savings of approximately $1.7 million. Over the three-year period, KMHS will train an estimated 130 health care workers, generate an estimated 11.5 new jobs, and create a transformed health care workforce cross-trained in behavioral and physical health disciplines.

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