Behavioral Health Summit

Resilient New Mexico is holding a virtual Behavioral Health Summit to inform the public about the importance and efficacy of virtual behavioral health service delivery via telemedicine, and to raise funds for continuing the Telehealth Learning Community throughout 2021.

Students from the New Mexico School of Arts will make presentations about behavioral health issues in addition to comments by professionals.

Attendees may also choose to attend the Great Ideas breakout groups before we conclude, where we will brainstorm ideas and suggestions. Everyone’s ideas and suggestions will be compiled into a document which will be available to attendees and other interested parties.

GREAT IDEAS FOR RESILIENT NEW MEXICO

The following ideas were collected from breakout groups at the recent Resilient New Mexico Behavioral Health Summit. The attendees were engaged and had some excellent ideas…many had some of the same ideas. We will continue to add to this and plan what we can do at Resilient NM or pass on to the state agencies or healthcare providers.

• Provide peer-to-peer training and opportunities for exchange of ideas between healthcare providers

• Support the broader availability of broadband and internet access in every part of the state, especially on the Native American reservations and pueblos

• Leverage the state statute that allows for healthcare providers, licensed in other states, to provide telehealth services for 3 years, and make it renewable

• Extend the Executive Order of the Governor that was created for the pandemic to provide healthcare via telehealth or make it a permanent statute

• Create ways to identify and address device and infrastructure (electricity)needs for providers and clients alike

• Create ways to ensure privacy when clients are using devices in the home or a public place

• Shorten the time to get licensed in the state to provide more healthcare providers…a big need for more licensed healthcare providers…it can take 3-9 months to get the license

• Get Medicare to cover iPads and iPods

• Invite high school counselors to the next Summit…they know a lot about the youth issues

• Contact Chuck Fisher, CEO of Dovetail Learning based in Sebastopal, California, where there is both poverty and diversity of the population. They provide curriculum around social and emotional learning as well as resilience. We can learn from each other

• Develop and share lessons learned broadly

• Address the lack of highly skilled professionals in the field, especially those that are culturally sensitive and family oriented

• Getting kids into nature, hiking, taking selfies in nature has been researched by UCSF and others and is good for creating resilience. People have a more positive well-being if they get outside

• Question: grant money is, or can be, available…why is private money needed? Isn’t this all under the auspices of the NM DOH/BHSD?

• We need alternatives between homeless shelters and institutionalization

• Ask tech companies like Apple to donate devices, ear pods, technology to help reach all potential clients

• Ask telecom and internet companies to help deliver broadband more quickly across the state and at the same price

• Support collaboration among the various providers and agencies providing healthcare so they are working together, not reinventing the wheel and pooling resources

• Allow more use of Certified Peer Support Workers and define their role

• Get our state technology and client access platforms up to date

• Provide a hybrid of high touch/high tech delivery of mental health services

• Review legislative measures that can improve mental healthcare provision

• Have more citizens call in to their legislators to support mental health related legislation…orchestrate how this is done

• Encourage the Governor to the Behavioral Health Planning Council who have community connections

• The state needs to work with private insurers on the issues related to behavioral health

• Expand access by pushing third party payers to cover mid-level providers using TH

• Ensure that TH continues beyond the pandemic

• Ensure that credentialing continues to allow providers to operate out of home offices post pandemic

• Address infrastructure issues…both access to internet/expansion of broadband as well as supporting patient/client capacity to use technology

• Pay particular attention to people living in rural areas as well as areas of poverty

• We need federal recognition for masters level counselors to be allowed to provide healthcare for the over 650000 baby boomers in NM

• Identify out-of-state licensed therapists to be part of the TLC

• We need wifi hot spots at schools and public places for access to school/therapy/social services

• We need hybrid model programs and continued funding/reimbursement

• How to hold onto overworked and frustrated providers/

• We need expansion of rural telehealth services

• How to do telehealth for existing providers and fund the therapists?

• How to bring high school groups into suicide prevention?

• We need workforce support so that direct service providers are not wearing out, have flexibility and are gaining skills

• Can the state change the licensing requirements?

• How can we create bonds and safe intimacy using technology that is limited?

• Counselors and marriage therapists still cannot bill Medicare

• There is a lack of providers regardless of the insurance status