July 1, 2025
Our next regularly scheduled meeting of our Collaborative is July 14 however in order to accommodate the schedules of several of our colleagues from OMH that I’ve asked to join the meeting, we need to push our next meeting to July 22 at 11:00. I hope this will work for the majority of you and that in instances where you cannot attend yourself, you will select someone in a key position on your staff to join the call.
At your request, I’ve invited Janine Perozzo, OMH Assistant Commissioner who oversees the OMH Office of Hospital Care & Community Transitions (HCCT) to join us for the meeting beginning at 11:00 sharp. Janine will be accompanied by some of her key staff. I’ve spoken to Janine about your desire to learn more about the work of the HCCT and where the program is headed in terms of ongoing and new initiatives, and to be ready to discuss ways in which BHIPAs can partner with the HCCT to advance positive outcomes and ensure meaningful participation by providers across the state many of which belong to BHIPAs.
Please save the new date for our next meeting: July 22 at 11:00. I will be in touch later today with more details to include a Zoom link for this upcoming meeting.
In related news, recently the members of the Leadership of the BHIPA Collaborative got together to review and confirm the direction of this group and to move the ball forward. The leadership group is made up of the following individuals, fyi:
Andrea Wanat, Value Network
Pam Mattel, CBC
Enrico Cullen, Northwinds IPA
Steve Harvey, Integrity IPA
Carol Cassell, AHN/RHS IPA
Lauri Cole, Consultant
During the meeting of the leadership group members agreed that the larger group should stick to the stated goals and objectives outlined in the contract between the IPA Collaborative and the NYS Council and that going forward it makes the most sense to merge the two sub-committees this Collaborative has maintained up until now such that we are all working together on projects related to Data Use (previously chaired by Enrico Cullen and Steve Harvey) and accompanying Advocacy (previously chaired by Andrea Wanat and Pam Mattel) objectives.
Many group members want to focus on data and specifically our collecting and analyzing data currently collected at the individual IPA level with the goal of standardizing the metrics being measured and operationalizing the definitions to ensure internal validity so we can discuss our outcomes with confidence and describe the many benefits to the state of working closely with IPAs while we simultaneously demonstrate value and (ideally) form partnerships with the state to improve care.
The leadership also confirmed earlier discussions we have had as a large group about working on the MAT metric and ensuring that going forward the state is measuring standardized provider outcomes associated with the Medication Assisted Treatment (MAT) metric. The leadership group agreed that in order to complete these tasks group members may need to assist one another with the steps required to pull data from PSYCKES and other data sources so we can move forward together and ultimately carve out a place for IPAs in this ecosystem.
In addition to our focus on data, the leadership group also heard the large group say it wants to continue work on the BH IPA Fact Sheets and transform them into one pagers that show what each IPA or groups of IPAs is working on to increase quality of care. To this end, we will need to put together templates that show what the individual BHCC/BHIPAs are collecting (data wise) and show what the IPA is doing with this information to improve outcomes.
Finally, some members of the group want to discuss Market Readiness in greater detail so that we are regularly evaluating the climate within which we are operating so we can adjust our goals and objectives to ensure they are pragmatic and aspirational in intent, and realistic in terms of our ability to add value while using our time most effectively.
Moving forward, I received the following email from Selena Hajani, Director, Strategic Operations & Planning, 1115 Waiver at SDoH earlier this week. I assume this is in response to my queries regarding SCN and IPA contracting issues:
Hi Lauri,
Hope that you’re doing well. Thank you for writing to New York State’s Office of Health Insurance Programs (OHIP) regarding the opportunity for greater collaboration across Behavioral Health Independent Practice Associations (BH IPAs) and Social Care Networks (SCNs) in the New York Health Equity Reform (NYHER) 1115 Waiver Program. We recognize BH IPA providers are critical partners to SCNs and believe IPAs are uniquely positioned to reach our core Medicaid populations who are eligible for health-related social needs (HRSN) services through the SCN program, including individuals with SMI or SUD, Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, among others.
We appreciate you sharing concerns on the level of SCN engagement with BH IPAs since the program’s launch and acknowledge that there may have been an initial misunderstanding on the ability for SCNs to contract with BH IPAs. We have worked with SCNs to clarify that they are not only allowed to contract with BH IPAs, but encouraged to do so. As I’m sure you can appreciate, this has been a large and complex program to operationalize, and we appreciate your input as we work to continuously improve and expand the reach and impact of the program.
With your feedback in mind, we have developed the strategies below to promote partnerships between BH IPAs and SCN Lead Entities. We have actively engaged New York State’s Office of Mental Health to inform these strategies. Our recent support of facilitating partnerships between SCNs and BH IPAs has included:
1. Creating a contract template for SCN Lead Entities to contract with BH IPAs to help streamline the process.
2. Explicitly encouraging partnerships between SCN Lead Entities and BH IPAs during meetings with SCNs, highlighting the potential of BH IPAs as key partners to conduct HRSN screenings and navigate Medicaid members to Enhanced HRSN Services, as well as strengthen collaboration between HRSN service providers and other stakeholders in the regional health ecosystem.
3. Simplifying IT Platform integration and requirements where possible by continuously working with SCNs and their IT Platform vendors to troubleshoot challenges and create seamless member experiences that minimize burden for providers joining SCNs.
4. Encouraging SCN Lead Entities to continuously exchange data with providers in their Networks to inform outreach and service delivery.
In addition, we are currently providing SCN Lead Entities with individualized support to further encourage partnerships with BH IPAs – equipping SCN Lead Entities with tailored network analyses that identify existing gaps in individual and BH IPA provider coverage across their region.
To ensure the continued success of our efforts, we would greatly appreciate if BHCC / BH IPA Collaborative could continue to:
1. Encourage BHCC / BH IPA members and other non-member BH providers to join the SCN program and provide HRSN Screenings, Navigation, and Enhanced HRSN Services, where possible. BH IPAs and their affiliated providers can be reimbursed for these services when contracted with an SCN Lead Entity.
2. Encourage BHCC / BH IPA members and other non-member BH providers to refer members to SCNs for HRSN services via warm handoffs.
3. Share information about the SCN program, including member-facing materials, that are available on OHIP’s website with BHCC / BH IPA Collaborative members.
Thank you for all you are doing for Medicaid members. The SCN program greatly benefits from the input and feedback of partners like the BHCC / BH IPA Collaborative. We look forward to expanding our partnership as we work together to continuously improve our reach and impact across New York.
We can talk about how we would like to respond to this email from Selena when we meet in July.
I hope everyone has a safe and happy July 4 holiday.