National Council Teams Up with Netsmart to Track Value-Based Care Outcomes at CCBHCs

The behavioral health industry’s move toward value-based care has brought with it much debate on how positive health care outcomes can be best defined. Now, one of the industry’s leading groups is undertaking efforts to do so as part of a new collaboration.

The National Council for Mental Wellbeing is partnering with information technology company Netsmart to track behavioral health services at federally-designated Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinics (CCBHCs).

The goal of the partnership is to improve behavioral health care services provided at CCBHCs nationwide, with Netsmart’s CareManager platform becoming the National Council’s preferred value-based care coordination solution.

Advertisement

Based in Overland Park, Kansas, Netsmart specializes in electronic management tools for health care operators, including operators of behavioral health and substance use disorder (SUD) treatment services along with a number of post-acute providers.

“We are thrilled to add Netsmart as a key partner, as they have been a leading advocate for CCBHCs and for integrating physical health with mental health and substance use treatment services for many years,” National Council CEO Chuck Ingoglia said in a joint press release that was issued Monday.

The CareManager platform will track and assess value-based care based by way of a repository to be created by the National Council and Netsmart, which will measure outcomes of care delivery provided to patients at CCBHCs.

Advertisement

The repository — according to the National Council and Netsmart — will also be useful to CCBHCs for research purposes, as well as allowing them to measure their own care delivery in comparison to benchmarks provided through CareManager.

“Part of what makes the CCBHC model innovative is its emphasis on providing standardized and expanded services,” Ingoglia added. “This also comes with an administrative cost, as mental health and substance use treatment organizations often must create and operate new systems for data reporting and care coordination. CareManager helps ease the burden, allowing CCBHCs to better operationalize the data and coordinate care across all services.”

Over 430 CCBHCs operate in 40 states, Washington, D.C. and Guam. Of those CCBHCs, the National Council has partnerships with nearly all of them. Additionally, Netsmart provides technology solutions to more than 100 CCBHCs.

“We believe our enhanced partnership reinforces the National Council’s mission of ensuring all Americans have access to comprehensive, high-quality behavioral health care that affords every opportunity for recovery and furthers the organization’s leading accomplishments,” Netsmart CEO Mike Valentine said in the press release.

Among the variables used by the CareManager platform in assessing care delivery are those pertaining to social determinants of health (SDoH), which is a critical component of the value-based care model.

Various SDoH conditions like residential environments and educational access can be correlated with an individual’s behavioral health status. At the community level, research has shown that by addressing SDoH, benefits not only accrue to one’s emotional wellbeing but to society at large when it comes to health care spending — particularly spending on low-income individuals.

It has been previously estimated that behavioral health care services that address SDoH conditions can generate $2.50 in savings for every dollar spent on Medicaid patient services. 

“We are excited for this journey with the National Council for Mental Wellbeing, as we can equip CCBHCs with the tools and technology to digitize and transform value-based care coordination across the country to drive improved outcomes for consumers,” Valentine added.

Companies featured in this article:

,