{"id":1187,"date":"2020-03-01T20:15:59","date_gmt":"2020-03-02T03:15:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/?p=1187"},"modified":"2020-03-01T20:16:00","modified_gmt":"2020-03-02T03:16:00","slug":"different-this-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/?p=1187","title":{"rendered":"Different This Time"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Last week Idaho\u2019s three branches of government, legislative,\njudicial and executive made a joint announcement. They agreed through\nresolution and executive\norder<\/a> to form a Behavioral Health Council and Advisory Board. It\u2019s a wise\nmove. But hasn\u2019t this been done before?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If this sounds familiar, it might be because there already\nexists a Behavior\nHealth Planning Council<\/a>. It was established in\nlaw in 2006<\/a>. Of note, there was expected to be $4M in funding to support\nthe duties assigned to the Council that year, which included the development of\ntransitional housing. This Council was directed to give a yearly\nreport<\/a> to the Governor and the legislature. They are interesting reading.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maybe this new executive order sounds familiar because there\nhave been many studies in the past. But they were different. Usually these were\ndone by outside entities that would come in and review what Idaho was doing around\nour \u201cBehavioral Health System\u201d and make recommendations. The most recent ones I\nam familiar with include the first WICHE report (2008) and their 10 year follow\nup<\/a> in 2018. Further, there was another recent\nreport<\/a> evaluating Idaho\u2019s Crisis \u201cSystem of Care\u201d which reviewed the\nperformance of the regional crisis centers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But maybe this time the work will be different. The work you\nget out of an effort often reflects the people doing the work. This Council\nwill have appointees from the Governor, the Chief Justice and the legislature. This\nis not an independent evaluation. This is Idaho folks with skin in the game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Council has four directives:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  1. Develop a plan to inventory expenditures, access\nand utilization<\/li>
  2. Assess the effectiveness of the current system\nand look for ways to efficiently coordinate<\/li>
  3. Determine Idaho\u2019s unique needs<\/li>
  4. Recommend actions to \u201cmaterially improve\u201d\nIdaho\u2019s behavior health system<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    Finally, the Council is supposed to develop a strategic plan\nand deliver it to the governor, legislature and judiciary this coming\nHalloween. I kid you not, that\u2019s the deadline. Any ideas for a costume?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    I applaud these goals. Why not get all the folks who see\nthis problem from their many perspectives together? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Let\u2019s look at number one: counting up where and how much we\nare spending. Did you know that the courts have money for \u201cspecialty courts\u201d?\nThese can be called behavioral health court, family court or \u201cDrug Court\u201d.\nOffenders may have a plea or sentencing delayed if the court decides the main\nproblem they are dealing with is drug addiction or alcoholism. If the offender\nagrees to the recommended treatment plan and sticks with it, they might get off\nwithout incarceration. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Further, the Department of Corrections pays for treatment of\nincarcerated addicts, and supports recently released offenders with drug\nproblems on parole or probation. Many are now eligible for Medicaid, which can\nalso support treatment. So, we pay through the state judiciary budget, the\nstate corrections budget and the Department of Health and Welfare. It seems\nadding all this up, counting what we are treating makes common sense. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Number two might be harder; assessing effectiveness. I have\nwondered before, what are\nwe counting<\/a>? But I have no doubt there are efficiencies that coordination\ncould accomplish, but remember how some legislators reacted to classroom\nstandards? Maybe setting standards for behavioral health will be easier. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Number three, assessing Idaho\u2019s unique needs can\u2019t be any\ntougher than driving to Boise from the panhandle in January.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The final task, recommend \u201cmaterial\u201d improvements, is easy,\nunless there is a budget item to consider.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    I suspect the people who put this together, the governor,\nthe judges, legislators are all tired of dealing with this problem from their\nlimited vantage point. Maybe they see hope that together, maybe we can make a\ndifference. That\u2019s an inspirational view. I wish them the best.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Last week Idaho\u2019s three branches of government, legislative, judicial and executive made a joint announcement. They agreed through resolution and executive order to form a Behavioral Health Council and Advisory Board. It\u2019s a wise move. But hasn\u2019t this been done … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1187"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1187"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1187\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1189,"href":"https:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1187\/revisions\/1189"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1187"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1187"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1187"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}