Centralized Care for Better Patient Outcomes If you were a person suffering from both depression and diabetes, you would see two different physicians for these conditions. If the doctors do not talk to one another, the burden is on you to fill in the gaps of information, and the risk of receiving contraindicative medications is real. But what if your care could be coordinated so that all your health providers had a complete picture of your health? “If we can get care coordination for Jefferson Parish, the model could be replicated across the state.” — Christy Ross BCM Vice President, Health Grants That’s exactly what Jefferson Parish Human Services Authority (JPHSA) is working to accomplish with a strategic grant from Baptist Community Ministries.“What’s important to us is the integration of behavioral health with primary care,”says Christy Ross, BCM Vice President, Health Grants. Above, L to R: Julie Shaw, LCSW-BACS, Division Director, JeffCare, JPHSA; Nicole Sullivan-Green, MA, LPC, Division Director, Developmental Disabilities Community Services, JPHSA; Rosanna Dichiro, Psy.D., Division Director, Behavior- al Health Community Services, JPHSA “Behavioral health”is often used interchangeably with the term“mental health,”and includes preventing or intervening in mental illnesses such as depression, anxiety and schizophrenia, as well as substance abuse, gambling and other addictions. When a chronic primary health condition like diabetes or heart disease is added, care becomes extra complicated. The Right Grantee JPHSA treats most of these concerns through its three divisions — behavioral health, developmental disabilities and a primary healthcare center known as JeffCare. With so many health services under one roof, JPHSA was an ideal candidate to receive a one-year grant award of $60,244 from BCM. The money has been utilized to identify a third-party support firm able to help design a centralized care coordination model. That support firm is currently training the JPHSA staff on how to implement methods of organizational efficiency and effectiveness to centralize care for every patient. Second-year grant money will be used to create a manual that spells out the details of the program. With a written manual, Jefferson Parish Human Services Authority Strategic Grant in Health 6