LifeSpring Blog

One of the major goals of the Indiana State Medicaid program is to achieve a better integration between behavioral and physical healthcare.  Psychological factors are closely associated with many physical health issues.  Many people turn to their physician first when they become aware that they might need some type of help for things such as depression, anxiety, and chemical dependency. In fact, primary care settings, manage a large portion of people who have psychiatric disorders.  

Studies conducted decades ago demonstrated that access to mental health services can significantly reduce healthcare costs and lead to more positive outcomes. Also today no one denies the importance of lifestyle issues such as diet, exercise, medication compliance, and the ability to manage stress, when it comes to our physical health.  Many of these issues and problems can best be addressed by professionals with experience in assisting people in making behavioral changes.

Also, research has shown that people with severe and persistent mental illness  typically have a disproportionate number of healthcare problems and issues.  In some studies, mortality rates have been found to be over seven times higher than average for SMI populations.

Finally with the relatively prosperous  baby boomer cohort starting to age,  it is highly likely they will use their primary care  providers if  they need behavioral health care.  So for all these reasons is important to get closer coordination and integration of behavioral and physical healthcare.  It must be said that there is resistance on both sides and the typical health plan has “carved out” behavioral health   as a specialty.  In the future, organizations such as LifeSpring will be working much closer with primary  care providers and this is especially true for federally funded health clinics.  Various collaborative models have been established, such as having a mental health professional co-located in group medical practice settings.  Also over the past several years, specialties such as health psychology and hospital liaison psychology have evolved to further the goal of integration.

Integration will present us with many challenges, but also many opportunities to improve the  overall health of the people we serve.

Terry Stawar, Ed.D.

President/CEO

LifeSpring

For the past several years there has been a lot of talk about implementing evidence-based practices in behavioral healthcare settings such as LifeSpring.  At the most basic level, an evidence-based practice is a treatment method that has been shown to be effective through outcome research studies. 

Just as medications must undergo rigorous study to demonstrate their effectiveness before they are released for use, there has been a strong movement to encourage the adoption and implementation of behavioral health treatments that have similarly been proven effective.

In the not so distant future, it is highly probable that funding sources will only pay for those behavioral health services that have supporting research.  Staff members at LifeSpring have been hard at work developing evidence-based practices within our service system.  Currently, LifeSpring is a state leader in the adoption of Systems of Care services- an evidence based practice for children and families.  Due to the excellenr work by the Children and Family services staff, county offices, and our Development Department, today we have a Systems of Care program in every county that is in LifeSpring’s exclusive geographic area.

LifeSpring also provides an Assertive Community Treatment Program (ACT) and Supported Employment which are also evidence based practices. Both of these programs have an excellent reputation and are seen as models throughout the state.

LifeSpring is still working to implement additional evidence based practices such as   Integrated Dual Diagnosis Treatment, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, and evidence based approaches to treat people with substance abuse in prison re-entry programs.  The implementation of evidence-based practices is just one of the many things that LifeSpring staff   are doing to continually improve the quality of our services.

Terry L. Stawar, Ed.D.

President/CEO

LifeSpring

Read the rest of this entry »