Access to Mental Health Services

This study examined the association between enrollment in Maryland’s behavioral health home (BHH) program and use of outpatient mental health services among people with serious mental illness. Methods: The study sample, drawn from Maryland Medicaid administrative claims data from 2012 through 2017, included 12,232 individuals ages 21–64 with a serious mental illness who were enrolled in a BHH or never enrolled. A specialty mental health system–based health home model with a primary goal of improving access to general medical care was associated with increased use of outpatient mental health services.

This study focused on a partnership with a mosque in Baltimore, MD, and its impact on the local Syrian refugee population through a peer-to-peer healthcare training program. They implemented the Lay Health Educator Program over a 6-week period in an effort to teach members of the mosque about healthcare-related topics that they could then disseminate to the Syrian refugee population that attends the mosque. A total of 18 community members took part in the program, and their participation highlighted that the most significant health issues for the Syrian refugees are "access to healthcare," "mental health," and insight into certain noncommunicable disease.

Care management entity models have a positive impact on functioning and symptom control among youths with serious emotional and behavioral disorders. However, little is known about whether treatment benefits are sustained after discharge. The study objective was to examine the association between enrollment in a care management entity and mental health outcomes during the year after discharge.

A case study examining implementation of Maryland's Medicaid health home program, a unique model for integration of behavioral, somatic, and social services for people with serious mental illness (SMI) in the psychiatric rehabilitation program setting. They conducted interviews and surveys with health home leaders representing health home programs. Results: Maryland's psychiatric rehabilitation-based health home is a promising model for integration of behavioral, somatic, and social services for people with SMI but may be strengthened by additional policy and implementation supports, including incentives for external providers to engage in care coordination with health home providers.

Baltimore, Maryland’s entrenched racial residential segregation renders the city’s world-class medical facilities and services inaccessible to many Black residents living in its most divested neighborhoods. Arguing the need for post-pandemic health care facilities to address health inequities as a practice of care-giving, this article describes a project funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to define a novel, transdisciplinary methodology for identifying ideal vacant sites for conversion into community clinics in Baltimore’s most vulnerable neighborhoods. Positioning architecture as a social determinant of health, this paper suggests ethical and methodological reorientations toward a compassionate approach to clinic design and placement.

With their focus on populations and prevention, local health departments (LHDs) have potential to address mental health and violence in ways that complement the activities of other local agencies. Promoting mental health and preventing violence requires population-based approaches, which LHDs are potentially well positioned to lead.

In this study, they determine whether and how Medicaid expansion and facility ownership are associated with changes in specialty mental health service availability in organized settings over time. They estimated two-way fixed effects models using six cross-sections of the National Mental Health Services Survey and compared changes in facility-reported offering of seven services from 2010 to 2019 (54,885 facility years): psychotropic medication, case management, family psychoeducation, psychiatric emergency walk-in services, supported employment, assertive community treatment, illness management, and recovery services.