AACP Newsletter, Volume 14,
Number 1, Winter 2000
AACAP/AACP Members Active in System Reform
Recently, the Work Group has begun what had turned out to be a series of regional symposiums on Systems of Care issues. The first of these was held in Johnson City, TN in July 1999. A statewide teleconference, it brought state and local legislators and administrators together to discuss the children's mental health delivery system under TennCare.
At its just-concluded Winter Meeting in Phoenix, the Work Group held its second symposium, Children's Mental Health The System of Care Approach, facilitated by Robert Klaehn, MD, a local Child Psychiatrist and member of both the Work Group and the AACP. This symposium could not have been held at a more opportune time, due to the current crisis in children's mental health in Arizona. Two weeks prior to the conference, the agreement between defendants and plaintiffs in the class action lawsuit seeking better mental health services for the state's Title XIX-eligible children broke down. Prior to this (and continuing despite this), there has been statewide collaboration to implement reforms in how initial evaluations are done and the development of local mechanisms for interagency collaboration around the children and adolescents with the most severe emotional disturbances. The momentum for significant reform is at risk as both sides prepare to go to court.
It was in this atmosphere that the Work Group presented to 75 state legislators, mental health administrators, community providers and parent advocates. Dr. Klaehn described the local situation in the introductory presentation and was followed by Andres Pumariega, MD, Co-Chair of the Work Group, who presented a best practices model for managed Medicaid Systems of Care. Other presentations by Drs. Ted Fallon, Tom Vaughan, Bill Heffron and Mark Chenven reviewed various aspects of providing quality services in public Systems of Care. A highlight for many members of the audience was the presentation of Nancy Winters, MD, also Co-Chair of the Work Group. She spoke on her work with the Multnomah County Partnership Program in a presentation entitled, "Family-Centered Case Management within a System of Care." The presentations were discussed by a local panel that included: Ann Ronan, a lawyer for the Arizona Center for Disability Law; Jacque Steiner, a former state legislator and advocate for better children's mental health; and William Fulton, MD, Assistant Medical Director for ValueOptions, the managed care corporation currently administering public mental health services in Maricopa County (Phoenix). A lively discussion followed.
These conferences have provided an excellent way to bring members of the local community together to discuss the complex issues of System Reform for Children's Mental Health. Bringing information about Best Practices in Community Based Systems of Care to the states they work in had become an important goal of the AACAP/AACP members of the Work Group. The first two conferences have been so successful that future symposiums are planned for Birmingham, Alabama and San Diego, California later in the year.
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