Safety Net Advancement Center in Arizona Projects
Current projects
Quality improvement collaborative for physical health and behavioral health integration — Medicare and Medicaid providers
Through this project, our team aims to help specific Medicare and Medicaid providers in Arizona to integrate behavioral and mental health into their patients' existing primary physical health care needs. By addressing behavioral and mental health care needs during regularly scheduled physical health care appointments, providers not only improve their patients' overall health but also help to contain costs and streamline the way government-funded health care is administered.
Quality improvement collaborative for physical health and behavioral health integration
This project is a quality improvement collaborative for provider groups participating in the Targeted Investments Program to optimize integration of primary care and behavioral health to maximize and sustain milestone performance by the provider groups and strengthen provider networks for successful value-based payment models in the future. This work is funded by the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System.
A comprehensive harm reduction strategy for Arizona
Our work seeks to engage the hardest-to-reach Arizonans who use drugs — those who are the most medically complicated and the highest cost to public systems. Our goal is to tackle the intertwined medical and social factors that contribute to the persistence of overdose, disease transmission and isolation among these individuals.
Behavioral Health Workforce Education and Training (BHWET) Program for Professionals
The purpose of the BHWET Program for Professionals is to develop and expand experiential training opportunities, such as field placements and internships, to improve the distribution and supply of the behavioral health workforce.
Past projects
Mental Health Mapping; Behavioral Health Workforce Shortage: Matching Demand with Supply
In this project, our team utilized geographic information systems to create an advanced, real-time digital mapping tool aimed at enhancing our comprehension of the mental and behavioral health care system in Arizona. The tool we engineered enabled us to pinpoint areas requiring mental health services, enhance patient access to health care providers, and propose equitable strategies for distributing the provider workload across the mental and behavioral health care system.
Student involvement
Our team provides extensive professional opportunities, mentorship and funding to students that will enhance and further their career prospects. Our students are currently involved in numerous projects involving substance abuse, improving health care performance on a statewide basis, training providers in long COVID, and cost benefit analysis in Uganda, to name a few.
Community partners
Our team collaborates with a diverse range of partners throughout the nation, including numerous hospitals, clinics and wellness centers among others. Current specific partners include:
- The Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System
- Banner behavioral health system
- Phoenix Police Department
- Solari, Inc
- Valleywise Hospital
- Maricopa County Health Department
- Maricopa County jails
- Sonoran Prevention Works
- Health Resources and Services Administration
- Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA)
- +400 health organizations