New Mexico Transformation Evaluation – Hyde, Adelsheim, Coleman-Beattie, Burnam, Goldman, Isett, Miranda, Morrissey, Frank

A well-recognized flaw with the mental health system is its fragmentation. Every major Government report has spotlighted the problem of consumers and families being confused by a baffling array of services from many state and local agencies, each with distinct rules and eligibility. Fragmentation leads to poor access to care, services of inferior quality, and inefficiency in use of taxpayer dollars. The state of New Mexico, under the leadership of Gov. Bill Richardson, passed pioneering legislation to create an entirely new system to streamline services: an Interagency Behavioral Health Purchasing Collaborative. The Collaborative’s goals are to improve access and quality of care, as well as to make the system more accountable. The Collaborative creates a seamless system of care by bundling together funds from all of New Mexico's state agencies into a single system that purchases care from behavioral health providers. This dramatically new system should provide a model for other states. But that can only be achieved through careful evaluation of the Collaborative’s impact. Network members are participating in the evaluation in two ways. They are conducting site visits and providing feedback as this new purchasing system unfolds. This includes an intensive evaluation of local collaboratives and their interactions with the State. They also are conducting a type of economic analysis, a fund flow analysis, to determine where revenues are coming from and where they are being spent.

Please send comments and suggestions to the Webmaster.
Content questions should be directed to Information Provider
Last modified: June 1, 2006
©2006 MacArthur Foundation Network on Mental Health Policy Research
Last Revised: August 17 2006