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KBIA’s Health & Wealth Desk covers the economy and health of rural and underserved communities in Missouri and beyond. The team produces a weekly radio segment, as well as in-depth features and regular blog posts. The reporting desk is funded by a grant from the University of Missouri, and the Missouri Foundation for Health.Contact the Health & Wealth desk.

Missouri Health Home Program Wins American Psychiatric Association Award

American Psychiatric Association

The Missouri Health Home program will be receiving a Gold Achievement Award for community-based services on Thursday from the American Psychiatric Association. This is one of four awards given out by the American Psychiatric Association every year to outstanding mental health programs.

The Missouri Health Home program was established in the beginning of 2012, and is an effort to improve the health of individuals with severe mental illnesses that are on Medicaid. It is a collaborative effort between the Missouri Department of Mental Health, Department of Social Services, MO HealthNet and the Missouri Coalition for Community Behavioral Healthcare.

The idea behind the program is to combine mental health services and physical health services into one “health home,” therefore improving both.

Joe Parks, the director of MO HealthNet explained:

“So, what the health home does is it assists these people to make sure they take their medications as prescribed. That they get to their doctors’ appointments - both the psychiatrist and their primary care doctor and their specialist doctor because most of them have multiple doctors they go see,” Parks said. “It looks for care gaps - care you should be getting, that you're not.”

In the few years that the program has been underway it has assisted many Missourians. According to Parks,  the program is currently serving 20,000 Missourians and has helped closer to 40,000 people since it began.

Credit Rebecca Smith / KBIA
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KBIA
Director Mark Stringer

Mark Stringer, the director of the Missouri Department of Mental Health, said the award is “icing on the cake” for the organizations involved.

“We've found the program rewarding, frankly, even before this award, because of the outcomes that we were seeing and the confidence we had in those outcomes,” Stringer said. “We were saving lives and we are saving lives and we're saving dollars."

When it comes to the health of the individual enrolled in the Health Home program, Natalie Fornelli, the Manager of Integrated Care for the Department of Mental Health, said health outcomes are monitored by metabolic syndrome screenings that measure Body Mass Index or BMI, blood pressure, and more.

This data is gathered at the individual’s point of entry and then subsequently each year – resulting in comparable data that can be used to determine improved outcomes.

According to the Department of Mental Health, the Health Home Program lead to a reduction in the risk of cardiovascular disease for participants in the program, as well as a reduced risk of diabetes, stroke and heart attacks.

“They have better control of their blood pressure. They have better control of their blood sugar, even if they're pre-diabetic,” Parks said. “They have lower levels of cholesterol.”  

Parks said it goes even beyond that.

“The program helps them live a healthy lifestyle to reduce and eliminate their smoking, to reduce weight and to be more physically active.”

"We were saving lives and we are saving lives and we're saving dollars."

According to the Department of Mental Health, the program has saved the state more than $36 million since it began. These savings take into account things such as the emergency room visits and readmissions to hospitals that are avoided by providing individuals with severe mental illnesses better overall medical care.

“It costs money to do the service, but it actually saves more than it costs,” Parks said. “It costs about an additional $80 per person per month to make sure they have a nurse care manager.”

But, he said, the program then saves an additional $60 per member. Which adds up over time.

Other states have already asked the program for advice on how to implement similar programs in their own states, Park said. 

Rebecca Smith is an award-winning reporter and producer for the KBIA Health & Wealth Desk. Born and raised outside of Rolla, Missouri, she has a passion for diving into often overlooked issues that affect the rural populations of her state – especially stories that broaden people’s perception of “rural” life.
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