Behavioral health support is a critical ingredient for living a healthy life. But research shows that many in Michigan who would benefit from behavioral health care struggle to access the support they need, for a variety of reasons.
To overcome these barriers, it’s vital that providers and policymakers across our state find creative ways to scale services, expand reach, and promote collaboration to make it possible for every Michigander who needs appropriate, high-quality behavioral health support to get it.
Technology is one way the Health Fund’s Behavioral Health grant program seeks to improve access to care. Here are a few examples of recent projects we’ve supported that have used technology in innovative ways:
Great Lakes Recovery Centers
Improved Access to Behavioral Health Resources
This grant — funded in 2022 — is in use to equip Great Lakes Recovery Centers with a virtual platform called Care Convene to improve services and strengthen connections to care for people receiving treatment for substance use disorders in rural Upper Peninsula counties.
In the Upper Peninsula, where transportation hurdles, a shortage of psychiatric providers, care coordination challenges, and elevated poverty levels create substantial barriers to recovery, Care Convene aims to streamline the sharing of electronic medical record information among authorized providers. This technology will offer an instant communication system to access telehealth platforms and referral services and set appointment reminders.
Great Lakes Recovery Centers have been working towards care, advancing implementation of this app since May 2023, and we’re especially intrigued to see how the intersection of technology and health care has the power to break down barriers, making recovery and the coordination of referral services more successfully accessible and achievable.
Upper Peninsula Health Care Solutions (UPHCS)
Behavioral Health Tele-ECHO Project
Primary care teams are, in many cases, the only health care professionals that patients in the Upper Peninsula can reliably access.
Through this project, subject matter experts on specific mental health topics — such as anxiety disorders in the pediatric population — coach groups of professionals working in primary care settings in real time using virtual immersion training technology and techniques. Coaching includes presentations and case studies to help local clinicians optimally treat more patients with mild to moderate behavioral health diagnoses.
This coaching and mentoring helps local clinicians provide and bill for higher levels of care, while individuals benefit from receiving more support in their own community. This added knowledge and capacity among local physicians, nurse practitioners, social workers, nurses, and other professionals increases access to behavioral health services and supports.
The UPHCS team is using structured facilitation methods to build stronger local relationships with care providers and other partners to develop appropriate referral pathways for individuals with mental health and substance use disorder diagnoses that require specialist intervention, as well as develop a regional response to the shortage of mental health service providers.
This is a great reminder that while technology can do many things, it still requires people to first know how to work together.
Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS)
Supporting CBOs to Participate in CIE Through POs
Strengthening the partnership between health care and social care organizations helps provide integrated service delivery to the whole person.
With funding through our Special Projects and Emerging Ideas Initiative, MDHHS is helping organizations enhance communication and integration of clinical and community-based social services by enhancing community information exchange (CIE) capacities. This project also explores the best ways to share health information in a timely way to all the people who need it, while incorporating the consent of people accessing supports.
MDHHS is working with physician organizations (POs) and community-based organizations (CBOs) to establish secure and effective electronic referral processes and other critical CIE functions.
While this grant was not issued directly through our Behavioral Health Initiative, it has significant ties to our work in this area because of the connections between social determinants of health and behavioral health.
Over time, we hope this statewide effort will help maximize the impact of effective CIE, which requires that all parties in Michigan’s behavioral health environment — including community-based organizations, payers, providers, and the people they serve — work together as equal partners.
The Synergy Center
Racial Disparities in Behavioral Health
The Synergy Center in Kalamazoo aims to transform the health care experience for African Americans, with a focus on improving both physical and mental health outcomes in the community.
A component of this work involves using technology to advance health equity. A 2022 Health Fund grant has helped Synergy launch the “BlackWellness Network,” which includes an online platform that connects Black patients with a wide range of Black health care providers in the Kalamazoo area.
We’re excited by this project because it acknowledges the transformative impact of culturally competent care. This work recognizes the significant influence of shared experiences on health outcomes and the treatment journey, while leveraging technology as a tool to help close gaps and enhance accessibility.
WHAT’S NEXT?
The Health Fund’s 2024 Behavioral Health Initiative will begin accepting concept papers and applications for funding on February 26, when we’ll launch our latest RFP. Leveraging technology will continue to rank high among our priorities for 2024 — we’ll be looking for proposals presenting new innovations and creative technology solutions to expand and enhance access to behavioral health care.
Want to know more? Sign up for our newsletter to stay up to date on funding opportunities or sign up for office hours with a member of our Behavioral Health team if you have an idea to explore.