Improving Access for Children Who Need Mental Health Services…. Quickly

Children had long wait times for appointments for initial assessment in behavioral health clinics in San Bernardino. It was brought to my attention when I had a family member who needed services quickly. There were efficient teams, but they were overwhelmed with the adult population, substance use disorder recovery services, and other programs within the clinic. I was not sure how to address this until I did those interviews with other stakeholders and realized there was an opportunity to build a children’s wellness center separate from our regular behavioral health clinics.

Saving Our Caregiver Workforce with Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) Interventions

In 2021, direct care staff turnover in our agency was close to 35%. We are a treatment foster family agency and residential therapeutic program for youth and families impacted by the child welfare and juvenile justice systems. In a field where stability and consistency of healthy relationships is vital to the success of our clients, this was a crisis.

Bringing Accompaniment to Inpatient Clinical Spaces: The Creation of a Health Advocate Program for Black Inpatients at UCSF Health

Nationwide, Black patients who are admitted to the hospital experience disparities in pain management, patient communication, length of stay, and readmission rates. This disparity is seen at UCSF Health, where black inpatients have lower patient communication scores, higher lengths of stay in the hospital, and higher readmission rates than the rest of the patient population. In addition, there is limited engagement and input from community members in the care that hospitalized patients receive at UCSF Health.

Maximizing 340B Revenue

Central City Community Health Center, Inc. is a federally qualified health center that relies on 340B savings to supplement our care to the uninsured and underinsured communities we serve. Unfortunately, our 340B program has never been optimized to fully realize the full benefits of the program. In 2021, we were experiencing multiple organizational barriers including lack of 340B program awareness among our staff, not capturing savings from providers we refer our patients to, and many missed opportunities that led to potentially millions of dollars being left on the table.

Optimizing Safety-Net Primary Care Access in the Era of COVID-19

Primary care practices in the safety-net face increasing demands for services as the COVID-19 pandemic has elevated health awareness and state initiatives continue to expand Medi-Cal coverage. At Los Angeles General Medical Center (LA General), the largest primary care site within the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services (DHS), we noted that the years of deferred care, rapid primary care panel growth, and marked workforce attrition pushed our clinics to the breaking point.

Building Organizational Excellence Within Olive View’s Hospital Operational Leadership Team.

When thinking about organizational excellence within a health care organization, clinical efficiency and quality patient care immediately come to mind. Physicians and nurses who provide direct patient care take center stage. What about the radiology and lab staff whose images and test results ensure appropriate diagnoses? What about the schedulers that support patient access, the housekeepers that keep the environment clean for safe patient care, and the facilities management tradesmen who work to keep the lights on?

Implementing CalAIM Community Supports to Create a System of Safe Discharge Options for Challenging Patients from Acute Care Facilities to Decrease Administrative and Denied Days

Medicaid patients remain in acute care settings (acute hospitals, long term acute care hospitals, skilled nursing facilities) because there are no safe, clinically appropriate discharge options. This results in an increased number of administrative or denied days because the patients are no longer clinically acute and are just awaiting placement. Patients who could be in an inpatient bed or in a skilled nursing facility are instead stuck boarding in the emergency department or an inpatient bed.

Team Based Care to Reduce Burnout

Clinicians at Keck Medicine of USC are burned out due to the COVID 19 pandemic, competing demands on their time and insufficient support to achieve work life balance. This project was designed to establish a team-based care program at Keck Medicine of USC to reduce clinician and staff burnout in the Family Medicine Department. Burnout affects over 50% of physicians and nurses and leads to reduced access to care due to sick calls, reduced patient safety and lower quality of care.

Improving linkage of patients with severe mental health illness to primary care providers with clinical pharmacist intervention

Care coordination among patients with severe mental healtillnessesss has been a long-standing challenge. Patients seen in mental health clinics oftentimes have inadequate control of diabetes, hypertension, and dyslipidemia. In addition, more than 60% of this population also suffers from co-occurring substance use disorders. Without addressing these chronic medical problems, patients with poorly managed medical conditions often were lost to follow-up.

Envisioning a post-pandemic Digital Behavioral Health Department

Rather than seeing COVID-19 as an insurmountable obstacle, I, along with my team at Community Health Centers of the Central Coast (CHCCC), Inc., viewed it as an opportunity to accelerate the pace of innovation. To better meet the needs of the community, the CHC Behavioral Health and Psychiatry Departments are committed to moving beyond brick-and-mortar clinics to a ‘click and mortar’ clinic in the sky, the Cielo Center for Integrated Health. Like many health centers CHCCC quickly shifted to virtual care not long after the pandemic emerged.