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New Study Shares Proven Approaches For Investing in the Nation's Children

Expert Panel

  • Mary Armstrong
  • Doreen Cavanaugh
  • Nadia Cayce
  • Joseph Cocozza
  • Richard Dougherty
  • Holly Echo-Hawk
  • David Fairbands
  • Jamie Halpern
  • Cheryl Hayes
  • Andy Hunt
  • Judith Katz-Leavy
  • Chris Koyanagi
  • Jody Levison-Johnson
  • Ken Martinez
  • Jan McCarthy
  • Mary Jo Meyers
  • Peggy Nikkel
  • Sheila Pires
  • David Sanders
  • Tessie Schweitzer
  • Harry Shallcross
  • Sue Smith
  • Beth Stroul
  • Constance Thomas
  • Karabelle Pizzigati
  • Robin Thrush
  • Nancy Weller
  • Ginny Wood

Increasing health costs and rising enrollment have created a major strain on funds that support children in publicly-financed managed care programs. While many children and their families rely on multiple funding streams and agencies for behavioral health services, fragmentation across these funding sources has created cost inefficiencies and confusion for families and providers. Increasingly, states have had to rely on Medicaid, which has become the largest funder of mental health services in the country.

A study at the
USF Research and Training Center for Children’s Mental Health is the first to thoroughly investigate cross-agency financing structures and strategies, and will provide important information about finance policies that can assist communities across the country.

“The choices of policymakers concerning publicly-financed managed care programs are critical for children with serious emotional problems and their families,” said Mary Armstrong, PI of the new study,
Financing Structures and Strategies to Support Effective Systems of Care. “This study will help guide them to invest mental health and social service dollars in proven approaches that address the unique challenges of families in their communities.”

Along with Armstrong, the team includes Jan McCarthy, Roxann McNeish, Sheila Pires, Karabelle Pizzigati, Beth Stroul, and Ginny Wood.

As part of the study’s first-year activities, a panel of financing experts convened in Tampa during the first week of May, 2005.

“The expert panel made several key points that will help shape the future of the study,” said Mary Armstrong. “First, the panel recommended that we emphasize "strategies" rather than "structures". Their belief is that the kind of financing information needed by states and communities is about the strategies that make use of opportunities available, given the context of federal, state, and community realities.”

“The panel recommended that we think about financing at three levels,” added Armstrong. “First, the system level - how states and communities bring more dollars into the system. Second, the service delivery level - how do we finance the introduction of evidence-based practices. And third, the child and family level - how do we have the dollars available to enhance child and family outcomes and satisfaction.”

The expert panel also emphasized that the study team provide concrete tools and technical assistance materials that states and communities can readily use.
The team completed a new work plan based on the experts’ feedback. First efforts include asking all national mental health children’s organizations to nominate sites to visit that have good financial strategies. They will be profiled in a series of Technical Assistance Guides. The first guide is scheduled for release September 2005, which will list best financing strategies and structures.

“We are pleased that all of the experts have agreed to stay on as advisors,” added Armstrong. “And while there are no overnight cures for complex social problems, we hope the rigorous application of lessons learned through this study will play an important role in the improvement of our child-serving systems.”

For additional information on this study, contact Mary Armstrong at 813-974-4601, or Roxann McNeish at 813-974-9897.

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