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Projects & Impact

AHP has built its business on applying best practices, many of which we have helped to shape, and real-world, hands-on knowledge to improving systems and business practices for our clients.

In all of the work that we do, we are guided by our mission to improve health and human services systems of care and business operations to help organizations and individuals reach their full potential.

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Access to Recovery (ATR)—Commonwealth of Massachusetts, DPH/BSAS

ATR is an innovative program that provides access to community services and resources to people with substance use disorders in Massachusetts. ATR has supported thousands of participants through their recovery in Boston, Worcester, New Bedford, Springfield/Holyoke, and Lowell.  
 
ATR provides participants with a menu of recovery support services to choose from including care coordination, access to basic needs, public transportation passes, health and mental health services, recovery coaching, rental assistance for sober housing, and employment training. When ATR participants have the opportunity to make their own decisions about their recovery, there is hope for sustaining that recovery.  
 
ATR focuses on providing wraparound support to participants, helping them toward self-sufficiency and employment. Along with providing a standardized comprehensive job readiness program, ATR provides tuition for select occupational training programs. 
 
Eighty percent of ATR participants have a history of involvement in the criminal justice system, so finding a job comes with significant barriers. ATR works with community partners to provide job training opportunities in fields that are receptive to hiring people with criminal backgrounds, such as culinary and food services, commercial cleaning, construction, carpentry, hospitality, truck driving, HVAC, introductory IT, personal fitness training, office support, and customer service. 
 
With all the support ATR provides, graduates are better equipped to continue their recovery path, find jobs, maintain stable housing, and make a sustainable change for a brighter future. 

 


Agency:
Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Department of Public Health/Bureau of Substance Addiction Services (DPH/BSAS)

Project Director:
 - View Bio

Impact:
Since the ATR grant began in 2010, the program has provided services to more than 25,000 individuals in Massachusetts. Participants in the 6-month program have very low rates of overdose deaths while enrolled in the program (less than 1 percent), low rates of new arrests, and the following positive, statistically significant improvements:

  • Increased employment or school enrollment  
  • Increase in stable housing  
  • Increased abstinence from alcohol and other drugs  
  • Substantially increased wages and a decreased reliance on public assistance 
  • Decreased instances of re-incarceration 


Participants in ATR’s Career Building Initiative (CBI) have even greater rates of employment or school enrollment than non-CBI participants after ATR involvement.

 

 



BHbusiness Plus

BHbusiness Plus was funded through SAMHSA. Utilizing a coached learning network model that lasted 3 to 6 months per network, AHP conducted more than 50 learning networks, each involving hundreds of participants, around the following topics:

  • Value-based Purchasing
  • Bundled Payments
  • Data-Driven Decision Making
  • New Business Planning
  • Costing Out Your Services
  • Setting up a Third-Party Billing System
  • Improving Your Third-Party Billing System
  • Third-Party Contract Negotiations
  • Eligibility and Enrollment
  • Strategic Business Decision Making
  • Planning for the Next Generation of HIT
  • Exploring Affiliations, Mergers, and Acquisitions

The goal was to help behavioral health providers identify and implement customized change projects that expanded their service capacity, harnessed new payer sources, and ultimately made them able to thrive in the changing health care environment. The program empowered participating organizations to actually make quantifiable changes, rather than just learn how to do so. It linked participants into specific learning networks that focused on a specific topic of interest and provided opportunities for networking and peer support.

Everyone within individual learning networks received hands-on expertise and guidance to initiate, continue, and complete business operations changes.

Currently, BHBusiness offers virtual technical assistance through self-paced online courses, coupled with a robust library of web resources on these same topics, at no cost to participants.

 



 
 

Agency:
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA)

Project Director:
Richard Landis, M.S.W. - View Bio

Impact:

Thousands of behavioral health provider organizations across the nation have participated in BHbusiness, gaining the knowledge to make and, in many cases, implement significant changes to improve business operations.


Building a Behavioral Health Network with Rural Providers

Facing evolving state and federal requirements for clinical integration, this group of rural behavioral health providers sought AHP’s help to assess their capabilities and begin to build a provider network to better serve their region. Recognizing the competitive risk of more dominant health systems, these smaller providers have banded together and are collaborating with AHP to strengthen their administrative capacity and efficiency and deliver care more effectively. AHP is conducting a readiness assessment of each provider’s capabilities for forming a provider network model with an analysis of strengths and weaknesses, along with recommendations for the most suitable network model to pursue. In addition, AHP is developing a business planning process with a blueprint for implementation for the chosen model. Each organization will receive a feasibility study and business plan for establishing a shared services organization.

Agency:
Rural behavioral health providers

Project Director:
Patrick Gauthier, B.A. - View Bio

Impact:
Ultimately this work will strengthen all participating community-based behavioral health service agencies involved by creating business operation efficiencies, building a network of shared services, and improving the quality, access, and delivery of behavioral health care to the residents of the rural counties affected.

Colorado Office of Behavioral Health Needs Assessment

The Colorado Office of Behavioral Health (OBH) selected a team led by Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education (WICHE) Mental Health Program to conduct a needs analysis and scan of existing and promising behavioral health models. AHP worked with the WICHE team, which included NASMHPD Research Institute (NRI), to complete 17 tasks. AHP assessed:
 
  • Olmstead v. L.C. legal decision considerations in the provision of state psychiatric beds;
  • integration of behavioral health and physical health care;
  • impact of marijuana legalization and prescription drug misuse on CO OBH service needs;
  • impact of state drug sentencing reform on CO OBH service needs; and
  • state approaches to support employment and housing for mental health consumers.
 
The work on tasks included a literature review, environmental scan, key informant interviews, focus groups, and analysis of existing state-level data. A report was prepared for each task and combined into a comprehensive report that included recommendations for Colorado’s OBH. 
 
Related resources and publication:
 

Agency:
Colorado Office of Behavioral Health (OBH)

Project Director:
 - View Bio

Impact:
The results of this work helped the Colorado OBH to strategically position itself and to plan behavioral health services in a rapidly changing health care environment.

Developing a Strategic Plan and Pro Forma to Help a Midwestern Provider Association Form a Behavioral Health Network

This provider association engaged AHP to help form a provider network from among its members. AHP developed a robust strategic business operational plan and pro forma by performing in-depth analyses of key business operations areas and developing an action plan. Building on that work, AHP then facilitated the implementation planning process for credentialing and billing. As a result, AHP delivered a comprehensive roadmap outlining the functional processes to institute and a set of recommendations and procedures to help launch the desired network.

Agency:
Midwestern Behavioral Health Provider Association

Project Director:
Patrick Gauthier, B.A. - View Bio

Impact:
The association is currently in the process of securing investment funds in order to further establish itself as the premier behavioral health network in the state.

Heartland Health Outreach Research Technical Assistance Project

AHP worked with Heartland Health Outreach (HHO), a community-based organization that provides medical, dental, behavioral health care and housing to vulnerable populations, to identify organizational research strengths and program evaluation needs. AHP conducted key stakeholder interviews with HHO administrators, reviewed HHO research implementation strategies, and recommended health care reform-related performance measurements. AHP also worked with HHO leadership to disseminate its research-related projects at a national level.
 
Related resources and publications:
 
  • Pickett, S.A. & Batia, K. (2015). Integrated Health Care for People with Psychiatric Disabilities: Introduction to the special issue. American Journal of Psychiatric Rehabilitation, 18(1), 1-4. Retrieved from www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15487768.2015.1001689.
  • Pickett, S.A., Luther, S., Stellon, E., & Batia, K. (2015). Making Integrated Care a Reality: Lessons Learned From Heartland Health Outreach's Integration Implementation. American Journal of Psychiatric Rehabilitation, 18(1), 87-104. Retrieved from www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15487768.2015.1001698. 

Agency:
Heartland Health Outreach (HHO)

Project Director:
Susan A. Pickett, Ph.D. - View Bio

Impact:
AHP and HHO published national peer-reviewed journal articles highlighting HHO’s successful implementation of integrated primary and behavioral health care services.

Improving Technological and Business Efficiencies for Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs)

Since 2005, AHP has helped nearly all Massachusetts FQHCs and others in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic to re-engineer key operational and clinical processes. AHP delivers value to the bottom line through evaluating and improving process mapping and workflow analysis, EHR implementation, identification of barriers and constraints, clinical and operational staff training, and system validation. AHP experts help FQHCs to integrate primary care and behavioral health, conduct strategic planning to meet the requirements of health care reform, and perform protected health information privacy and security assessments. Since 2011, AHP has assisted FQHCs in meeting the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Meaningful Use.

Agency:
Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs)

Project Director:
 - View Bio

Impact:
As a result of AHP’s work, many clients have successfully met the Meaningful Use Stage 1 requirements and are in process with Stage 2, receiving hundreds of thousands of dollars in Meaningful Use incentives. AHP’s expertise with FQHCs has led to additional contracts, including Uniform Data Systems for Health Centers.

Integrated Health Care for African Americans with Mental Illness who are Homeless

AHP is collaborating with the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) to develop, implement and pilot-test an integrated behavioral health and primary care intervention for homeless African Americans with mental illness. Funded by the National Institute of Minority Health and Health Disparities, in this project, peer navigators—African Americans with lived experience of homelessness and behavioral health problems—connect homeless African Americans with mental illness to medical and mental health care, helping them “navigate” these complicated health systems. AHP and IIT are conducting a randomized controlled clinical trial examining the effectiveness of peer navigators in improving health outcomes for this vulnerable population.
 
Related resources and publications:
 
  • Corrigan, P.W., Pickett, S., Kraus, D., Burks, R., & Schmidt, A. (2015). Community-based participatory research examining the health care needs of African Americans who are homeless with mental illness. Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved, 26(1), 119-133. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25702732.
  • Corrigan, P.W., Pickett, S.A., Batia, K., & Michaels, P.J. (2014). Peer navigators and integrated care to address ethnic health disparities. Social Work in Public Health, 29, 581-593. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25144699. 

Agency:
National Institute of Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHHD)

Project Director:
Susan A. Pickett, Ph.D. - View Bio

Impact:
Preliminary results suggest that project participants who worked with peer navigators had significant improvements in health functioning. Peer navigators may be a critical tool in helping homeless African Americans with mental illness access the integrated behavioral health and primary care services they need to address their complex health problems. 

Positioning an Accountable Care Organization to Expand Behavioral Health Services

Inspira Health Network, an accountable care organization (ACO) with three medical centers and more than 100 access points, sought AHP’s help to make rapid, well-informed decisions about the best allocation of its behavioral health resources and facilities to best serve the surrounding community and deliver value to the bottom line. The goal was to research and deliver a position paper for presentation to legislative, business, and community stakeholders that would encourage support for the ACO’s proposed facility and product expansion. In a very tight timeframe, AHP conducted an assessment of the existing and future business environment, researched and defined the product line and proposed expansion, and developed a paper positioning Inspira Health Network and the benefits proposed for the community.

Agency:
Inspira Health Network

Project Director:
Patrick Gauthier, B.A. - View Bio

Impact:
AHP’s final report exceeded the client’s expectations. The ACO leadership was able to provide a highly professional presentation to key stakeholders and advance its business goals for product and facility expansion. Should the plan receive official approval, the health system will build and enhance its behavioral health services delivery.

Recovery to Practice

From 2014 to 2018, under a contract with SAMHSA, AHP led the Recovery to Practice (RTP) workforce initiative to expand and integrate recovery-oriented care delivered by behavioral health providers across systems and service settings. The purpose of the RTP project was to help SAMHSA promote and support person-centered, recovery-oriented principles and practices as integral to multidisciplinary treatment and services for people diagnosed with serious mental illnesses and/or substance use disorders.  

 

Primarily a workforce development project, RTP helped improve and supplement the skills and competence of practitioners across disciplines—including physicians and other medical personnel, therapists and social workers, and peer specialists and those who provide support services. Through RTP, SAMHSA built a comprehensive suite of online educational resources for understanding, providing, and improving recovery-oriented services. 

 

RTP addressed applications and recovery-oriented practices within multidisciplinary services and integrated settings. As part of the contract, the RTP team

 
  • Redeveloped and expanded SAMHSA’s RTP website
  • Created quarterly newsletters and other resources
  • Provided technical assistance and educational events to help promote and support recovery-oriented approaches in integrated and multidisciplinary settings
  • Created new training modules on interdisciplinary service approaches and homelessness
  • Developed decision support resources for clinicians 

AHP hosted a series of 48 multifaceted, multidisciplinary, far-reaching education programs consisting of continuing education unit (CEU)–approved webinars and a resource-rich companion newsletter on a variety of recovery-oriented topics, including homelessness and housing instability, engagement, recovery-oriented approaches to medication, and recovery-oriented cognitive therapy (CT-R). Participants gave these webinars an overall effectiveness rating of 98 percent. 

 

In addition to webinars, AHP created two SAMHSA-approved multi-module virtual learning courses: Integrated Practice in Primary and Behavioral Health, and Information for Peer Specialists Working with People Experiencing Homelessness.  

 

AHP also completed a robust set of CEU-carrying clinical decision support materials for physicians and other practitioners. The virtual courses blended evidence-based medicine with a recovery orientation and focused on recovery-oriented prescribing practices, co-occurring disorders, and clozapine. Mindful of the needs of this professional audience, AHP developed six podcasts that focused on complex clinical considerations around psychotropic medication, including recovery-oriented approaches to prescribing, choosing the right medication at the right time, prescribing multiple medications, treating pregnant women, the intersection of serious mental illness and chronic pain, and prescribing long-acting injectable medications. 


Agency:
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA)

Project Director:
 - View Bio

Impact:

AHP created educational materials that reached more than 12,000 professionals across a wide range of disciplines. More than 4,500 individuals registered for the 12 virtual technical assistance events that took place in 2018, representing 49 states and the District of Columbia. Also in 2018, nearly 8,000 more people viewed archived recordings of those webinars on YouTube. Overall, Recovery to Practice (RTP) developed 48 webinars that continue to draw interest and web traffic. As a result of AHP’s work, RTP awarded nearly 1,100 continuing education certificates. 

 


Supporting Transition to Health Care Reform for a Large National Behavioral Health/Social Services Organization

AHP worked with this national association and its affiliate members around the country on a range of projects including re-engineering services and delivery systems in response to the requirements and opportunities under the Affordable Care Act. AHP has worked extensively with the national headquarters of the association to identify opportunities for affiliates, including identifying partnerships with health homes and accountable care organizations, exploring new business opportunities, and expanding publicly funded services into the private pay and third party/managed care markets.

Agency:
National association and affiliate members

Project Director:
Patrick Gauthier, B.A. - View Bio

Impact:
AHP enhanced the client's ability to support affiliates in preparation for health care reform and established plans with multiple chapters for product/service expansion and payment reform.

Technical Assistance to the Center for Mental Health Services (CMHS) Office of the Director

Over several contracts, AHP has conducted studies, provided analysis and technical advice, written papers and Reports to Congress, and reviewed CMHS business operations. In addition, AHP writers are the principal speech and blog writers for the CMHS Office of the Director. Speeches and blogs communicate SAMHSA’s vision, mission, and priorities as they relate to the development of a person-centered, recovery-focused, evidence-based, and quality-driven system of behavioral health care. Speeches are prepared for national meetings and conventions, state and community organizations, national and international policymaking groups, and congressional committees.

AHP’s accomplishments in support of the CMHS Office of the Director are both broad and deep. For example, AHP:
 
  • Wrote Reports to Congress on borderline personality disorder and certified community behavioral health clinics;
  • Provided insight into the evolving research and policy surrounding the social determinants of mental health;
  • Helped assess the evidence base for the effectiveness of selected behavioral health treatments;
  • Examined states’ priorities vis-a-vis health reform;
  • Reviewed crisis support programs for people with behavioral health conditions;
  • Examined employment of individuals with behavioral health disorders who have criminal justice involvement;
  • Conducted an examination of patient activation for behavioral health;
  • Developed CMHS program profiles;
  • Helped develop materials related to the prevention of mental, emotional, and behavioral disorders;
  • Examined the relationship of maternal health and child behavioral health outcomes; and
  • Analyzed the extent to which the landmark Supreme Court decision in Olmstead v. L.C. is working for Americans with disabilities, including those with mental and substance use disorders.
     
Related resources and publications:
 

Agency:
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA)

Project Director:
 - View Bio

Impact:
AHP helps SAMHSA articulate its mission, vision, and values to ensure that SAMHSA remains at the forefront of efforts to create person-centered, recovery-focused, evidence-based, and quality-driven services for people with mental health and substance use conditions.

The Behavioral Health and HIV/AIDS Technical Assistance Center (BH-HIVTAC)

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) contracted with AHP to manage this national technical assistance (TA) and training center, which provided services to CSAP and CSAT grantees funded through the Minority AIDS Initiative (MAI).
 
Through onsite and innovative virtual TA, BH-HIVTAC provided high-quality services, fostered an understanding of the people the program served, and supported development of integrated services that were culturally and linguistically appropriate for these priority populations and their communities. The goal of this TA and training was to increase capacity for local behavioral health provider networks to develop and expand their substance use prevention and treatment services, particularly those integrating HIV and viral hepatitis prevention services and linkages to primary health care.
 
BH-HIVTAC reached more than 1,500 participants through its virtual conferences for grantees. The highly interactive sessions focused on topics ranging from using social media to recruiting youth and young adults at risk of HIV into substance use prevention and treatment services and integrating peer recovery services into workforce development in behavioral health programs.
 
In addition, BH-HIVTAC held collaborative webinars and intensive onsite training and TA. It hosted small virtual learning networks designed to strengthen and support grantee effectiveness and facilitated development of regional grantee networks to promote grantee-to-grantee connections to build local grantee capacity.
 

Agency:
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA)

Project Director:
 - View Bio

Impact:

  • AHP held three innovative virtual 2-day grantee conferences designed by AHP staff. The 2018 Center for Substance Abuse Treatment (CSAT) grantee virtual conference had more than 350 attendees, with plenary and keynote sessions, three tracks (clinical, program administration, and evaluation) and a virtual poster session with presentations by 10 grantees. More than 600 people attended a joint 2016 Center for Substance Abuse Prevention (CSAP)/CSAT virtual conference, which had plenary and keynote sessions and three tracks. The 2015 CSAP grantees conference had plenaries, concurrent sessions, and two grantee panels, with a total of 300 attendees.
     
  • The BH-HIVTAC contract provided 178 site visits, 65 webinars, and engaged 47 subject matter experts (SMEs) for 450 grantees over a 4-year period. Site visits took place in 24 states/territories.

     

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