Like many in the U.S., Ohioans are experiencing a historic shortage of behavioral healthcare resources. But population health management tools from Alera Health will help the Ohio Behavioral Health Providers Network better integrate mental healthcare. 

Meanwhile, the state’s Miami University has awarded $1 million in funding to the Ohio Alliance for Population Health for the Southern Ohio Behavioral Health Corridor to support future behavioral health practitioners committed to the state's rural areas.

WHY IT MATTERS 

In 2020, the Appalachian Regional Commission said in the Creating a Culture of Health in Appalachia: Disparities and Bright Spots report that the supply of mental health providers per 100,000 people in Appalachian Ohio is 51% percent lower than the national average, and 41% lower than the average in non-Appalachian Ohio.

Further, the report noted that the suicide rate in the largely impoverished, among other key findings, was 19% higher than the national rate, and 26% higher than the rate in non-Appalachian Ohio at the time.

Since then, efforts to improve care for those diagnosed with primary or secondary behavioral health conditions as well as grow a larger behavioral health workforce ensued.

On Monday, OBHPN announced a new partnership with Alera to build a clinically integrated network to expand access to care, improve health outcomes and lower costs, according to an announcement from the population health management company.

OBHPN specializes in integrating behavioral health and primary care services provided by more than 25 hospitals, Certified Community Behavioral Health Centers, Federally Qualified Health Centers and social services to more than 225,000 Ohioans in 66 of Ohio's counties. 

The organization's providers serve more than half of the state's population with severe and persistent mental illness. They act as the safety net for people who suffer from comorbid behavioral health and medical conditions, according to Alera. 

The company said the new digital infrastructure – including data analytics and other care coordination resources – will help OBHPN providers address a long-underserved patient population with complex behavioral, medical and social needs. 

The self-governed ONEcare networks will have access to clinical and operational process improvements and remote patient engagement tools that will enhance value-based care agreements that recognize and incentivize increasing access to care, patient outreach and satisfaction, preventative care and avoidance of unnecessary health costs, Alera said.

"OBHPN is ready to take another step towards the future – a future where patients with behavioral health concerns can expect to be treated with care and respect and where behavioral health providers are recognized for the extremely valuable role, they play in providing whole-person, integrated care," Eric Morse, CEO of the Centers and chair of the OBHPN Board, said in the statement.

"OBHPN believes that the partnership with Alera Health will provide us with the experienced contracting, data, and care coordination support that we need to take this next step." 

Meanwhile, Ohio University announced last month that with $669,843 of a $1 million Miami University grant, the Ohio Alliance for Population Health will establish a behavioral health corridor across southern Ohio to enhance support for students pursuing behavioral health professions.

The Southern Ohio Behavioral Health Corridor is a partnership between the two universities and five two-year colleges across southern Ohio and is funded by the Ohio Department of Higher Education. 

While the Alliance works on an array of issues, it engages administrators, healthcare practitioners, academic researchers and policy experts from more than 50 affiliated universities, hospital associations and healthcare providers. 

The funding will provide scholarships, living expense stipends and paid internship placements to students from high school sophomores to graduates, according to the news. 

But a critical part is encouraging students with unfinished degrees and others planning to stay in the region to complete their programs and provide much-needed behavioral health services in the rural region.

"The shortage of behavioral health professionals in southern and Appalachian Ohio is not just a statistic, it is a crisis that is leaving individuals and families without the support and care they need," Caitlyn Riederer, interim managing director of human resources at Integrated Services for Behavioral Health, said in the statement.

"Diversifying pathways into the workforce and providing support for workers to continue their education enhances the system’s ability to address behavioral health and its social determinants in homes, clinics, libraries, schools, and communities across the region," Justin Wheeler, assistant professor of instruction in Ohio University’s College of Health Science Professions, added.

THE LARGER TREND

In April, Brian Dixon, research scientist at Indiana University's Regenstrief Institute and interim director of the Clem McDonald Center for Biomedical Informatics, spoke with Healthcare IT News about new analytics strategies for patient-centric population health. 

Encouraging patients to be more active participants in their care, and involving them in shared decision-making, are key to addressing population health challenges, he said.

Developing patient analytics for population health can no longer just incorporate electronic health record data filled in by healthcare providers. Data, provided by patients themselves, remote monitoring and other sources, like social determinants of health data, is needed to break siloes. 

To enable better patient analytics, "there are a number of ways to incorporate the data into workflows," he said, and the challenge is feeding data from a multitude of devices into enterprise systems.

As healthcare has historically done, "we're still doing things in a somewhat siloed fashion," Dixon said, "but that is where we need to be thinking: how do we move from having a great app here and a great device there that we have from different companies, to really an ecosystem" that serves other patient populations.

ON THE RECORD

"With behavioral health driving medical costs 3.5x higher than normal, we believe the only sustainable solution is to build communities of care across the spectrum of providers collaborating with individuals with behavioral health concerns," said Mike Rhoades, CEO of Alera Health, in a statement. 

"The dual opiate and then COVID pandemics made it clear that behavioral health is personal for us all. It is time that we took that personal impact and used it to inspire real and sustained change to the systems of care that support individuals with behavioral health concerns."

Andrea Fox is senior editor of Healthcare IT News.
Email: afox@himss.org
Healthcare IT News is a HIMSS Media publication.