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Group seeks funding for mental health, opioid issues

Foster's Daily Democrat - 12/8/2016

Dec. 08--DOVER -- The Strafford County Commissioners Office is hoping to lead the way on improving the mental health care system in the state.

Through a complex funding program and a federal grant application, Strafford County and parts of Rockingham County could receive millions of dollars to treat mental illness and combat the opioid crisis.

At a Strafford County Commissioners meeting on Thursday, Nick Toumpas gave an update on the Integrated Delivery Network (IDN), which aims to coordinate and improve care in the region, and the Substance Abuse Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) grant application, which would bring in federal dollars to aid in care giving.

Toumpas is the executive director of the IDN, which seeks to improve the capability of the region to serve those suffering from mental illness and substance abuse problems.

According to Toumpas, this would be accomplished in four ways: increasing the capacity of services and staffing; improving coordination between services and facilities; improving the transitions of care; and "fundamentally changing how services are paid for."

Each of these targets would improve the region's ability to better treat people who are currently not receiving the required care, Toumpas says.

He says there is a lack of facilities and staffing necessary to effectively treat everybody in the area affected by mental illness and substance abuse. Furthermore, the facilities that are in place do not coordinate effectively.

"There is some coordination among services, but everything is mostly siloed," Toumpas said. "...; This would get a large group of organizations to work together more and more effectively."

These organizations include hospitals, mental health centers, county facilities, substance abuse and recovery centers and the Community Action Partnership.

Toumpas also identifies the transition of people from one facility to another as an area that needs improvement, as well as the funding formula for care and services. Currently, he says, care is paid for by quantity instead of by outcome. The new model would switch the program to a "value based purchasing" model, which would pay based on results.

The IDN is not a grant -- money is awarded for achieving metrics and milestones, which are presented to the state.

The IDN submitted a project plan at the end of October, Toumpas said. The project will be reviewed next week, and will be approved or denied by the end of the calendar year. Following that, the group will have to work on more detailed project proposals to continue securing funding.

Toumpas expects the project plan to pass and continue to receive funding. Money received goes toward achieving the four goals identified above.

The SAMHSA grant application would secure federal funding in the amount of $4 million over four years to complement the efforts of the IDN. However, Toumpas is less confident about receiving this funding, as it is a competitive grant and there are still several questions that need to be explored before a strong application is submitted by Jan. 3.

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(c)2016 the Foster's Daily Democrat (Dover, N.H.)

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