GREATER NEW ORLEANS COLLABORATIVE TO
IMPROVE BEHAVIORAL HEALTH ACCESS (C-IBHA)
WITH SUPPORT FROM THE
FOUNDATION (RWJF)
ROBERT WOOD JOHNSON
C-IBHA FAQ Sheet
General Information
1.
What is the purpose of the Collaborative to Improve Behavioral Health Access (C-IBHA)?
The goal of the Collaborative to Improve Behavioral Health Access (C-IBHA) is to build organizational
capacity to implement best practice treatment of depression and other common mental health
conditions and produce sustainable systemic change. To accomplish this goal, Louisiana Public Health
Institute (LPHI) and its partners will provide technical assistance to organizations on integrating
evidence-based practices and utilizing quality improvement tools to improve treatment outcomes for
depression and other common mental health disorders.
2. Are all Primary Care Access and Stabilization Grant (PCASG) awardees eligible to participate in the
Collaborative to Improve Behavioral Health Access?
Yes.
3. Are PCASG awardees required to participate in the Collaborative to Improve Behavioral Health
Access?
No. Participation is completely voluntary but strongly encouraged.
4. What are the primary objectives for each participating organization in C-IBHA?
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Implement a clinical model for care of depression and other common mental health problems
based upon evidence based practice guidelines and the framework of the chronic care model;
Build and consolidate partnerships among appropriate organizations, e.g. develop specific
arrangements between primary care practices and mental health specialists for consultation,
referral and information flow;
Help organizations meet PCASG requirements for quality improvement and incentive payments;
Participate in learning collaborative quality improvement efforts:
 Systematically assess the implementation of the clinical model;
 Ongoing objective assessments of care and make adjustments to practice as indicated by the
findings of such assessments; and
 Share lessons learned among collaborating organizations.
Establish a system to collect, organize and report summary data derived from the components of
the model.
5. What will my organization get out of participating in C-IBHA?
Depending on the degree and sophistication of implementation, organizations will develop:
GREATER NEW ORLEANS COLLABORATIVE TO
IMPROVE BEHAVIORAL HEALTH ACCESS (C-IBHA)
WITH SUPPORT FROM THE
FOUNDATION (RWJF)




ROBERT WOOD JOHNSON
Depression and other common mental health disorders evidence based practice guidelines;
Stronger internal/external community partnerships to improve overall patient care;
Knowledge and practice in using a quality improvement process that can be adapted to future
clinical content improvement efforts; and
A system and registry to collect, organize and report summary data derived from quality
improvement efforts, appropriate to each organizations needs.
6. Will my organization receive financial incentives by participating in C-IBHA?
No.
7. How does C-IBHA fit with PCASG requirements and incentives?
LPHI and its consultants have designed C-IBHA to work with PCASG requirements and timelines.
Participating in C-IBHA may help your organization to meet baseline and/or incentive requirements.
8. Is this Collaborative beneficial to organizations that have collocated primary care and behavioral
health services?
Yes. Creating and sustaining organizational partnerships across primary care and behavioral health
disciplines is one of several goals of the Collaborative.
9. How do I sign up to participate in the Collaborative?
Send the following information to Sarah Hoffpauir by July 15, 2008:
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Complete and email the C-IBHA Technical Assistance and Implementation Questionnaire

Sign, date, and deliver the C-IBHA Memorandum of Agreement
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Complete and email the C-IBHA Kick-off Participant Information Form
10. Who do I contact if I have questions not addressed by this FAQ?
Sarah E. Hoffpauir, LCSW-BACS
Director
Behavioral Health Initiatives
Louisiana Public Health Institute (LPHI)
1515 Poydras, Suite 1200, New Orleans, LA 70112
504-301-9845 direct
shoffpauir@lphi.org
GREATER NEW ORLEANS COLLABORATIVE TO
IMPROVE BEHAVIORAL HEALTH ACCESS (C-IBHA)
WITH SUPPORT FROM THE
FOUNDATION (RWJF)
ROBERT WOOD JOHNSON
C-IBHA Technical Assistance
11. What technical assistance will be included in C-IBHA?
Technical assistance areas:
 Clinical content overview such as evidence based practices on depression management, screening,
diagnosis and pharmacotherapy;
 Systems support for clinical content improvement such as care management, patient registry
implementation, identifying necessary training, and behavioral health - primary care integration; and
 Organizational level quality improvement methodology designed to build continuous, sustainable
quality improvement adaptable to future improvement endeavors.
Delivery methods:
 Kick-off meeting providing training from nationally recognized experts and resource materials
related to implementing the different components of the project;
 Consultation to organizations to assist them in implementation of components of the Chronic Care
Model; and
 Regularly scheduled Learning Sessions throughout the PCASG grant period that bring
representatives from each team together to further learn from expert faculty and each other about
improvement methods in depression and other common mental health disorders management.
12. Who are the expert consultants providing the technical assistance?
Harold Alan Pincus, M.D. is Professor and Vice Chair of the Department of Psychiatry at Columbia
University and Director of Quality and Outcomes Research at New York Presbyterian Hospital. Dr.
Pincus also serves as a Senior Scientist at the RAND Corporation. Previously he was Director of the
RAND-University of Pittsburgh Health Institute and Executive Vice Chairman of the Department of
Psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh, where he still maintains an adjunct professorship. He is
the National Director of the Atlantic Philanthropies' Health and Aging Policy Fellowship and the
former director of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s National Program on Depression in
Primary Care: Linking Clinical and Systems Strategies, and the Hartford Foundation’s national
program on Building Interdisciplinary Geriatric Research Centers.
Jeanie Knox Houtsinger is the Academic Affairs Coordinator for the Department of Psychiatry at
the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. Ms. Knox Houtsinger served as the Deputy
Director of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s National Program on Depression in Primary
Care: Linking Clinical and Systems Strategies and has worked closely with Dr. Pincus on numerous
technical assistance initiatives focusing on implementation of behavioral health and primary care
services.
GREATER NEW ORLEANS COLLABORATIVE TO
IMPROVE BEHAVIORAL HEALTH ACCESS (C-IBHA)
WITH SUPPORT FROM THE
FOUNDATION (RWJF)
ROBERT WOOD JOHNSON
Steven Cole, MD is Professor of Clinical Psychiatry in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral
Sciences at the Stony Brook University School of Medicine. Dr. Cole’s academic and research
interests are in the areas of Geriatric Psychiatry, Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry, and Integrated
Depression Care in Medical Patients.
Amy Kilbourne, PhD, is Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Michigan and Core
Faculty Member in the VA Ann Arbor Serious Mental Illness Treatment Research and Evaluation
Center (SMITREC). Dr. Kilbourne currently serves on national committees dedicated to improving
outcomes for persons with mental disorders, including the VA Mental Health Quality Enhancement
Research Initiative and Strategic Planning Committees, and was an instrumental member of the
Clinical Consulting Team for the Robert Wood Johnson Depression in Primary Care National
Program.
13. Why do we need to complete the Technical Assistance and Implementation Questionnaire?
The questionnaire is designed to thoroughly assess your organization’s readiness and needed
resources in implementing evidence-based practice guidelines for depression and other common
mental health conditions. Completion will prepare your organization for the C-IBHA Kick-off
event and be a useful guide for the duration of the Collaborative.
14. When is the deadline to submit our Technical Assistance and Implementation Questionnaire?
Complete and email the final copy of the Technical Assistance Planning and Implementation
Questionnaire; sign and USPS mail or scanned email a copy of the Memorandum of Agreement
by July 15, 2008 to:
Sarah E. Hoffpauir, LCSW-BACS
Director
Behavioral Health Initiatives
Louisiana Public Health Institute (LPHI)
1515 Poydras, Suite 1200, New Orleans, LA 70112
504-301-9845 direct
shoffpauir@lphi.org
15. Is assistance offered in completing the Technical Assistance and Implementation Questionnaire?
Yes. We strongly encourage organizations to submit draft versions to Sarah Hoffpauir before the
deadline to guide you in successful completion of the materials.
We also offer Orientation and Consultation conference calls with expert consultants to address
your questions and/or concerns. All conference calls can be accessed at LPHI’s main conference
room or via this dial-in information: 888-830-8905; pass code 366546#.
GREATER NEW ORLEANS COLLABORATIVE TO
IMPROVE BEHAVIORAL HEALTH ACCESS (C-IBHA)
WITH SUPPORT FROM THE
FOUNDATION (RWJF)
ROBERT WOOD JOHNSON
Orientation Conference Calls
Thursday, June 26, 1-145pm
Consultation Conference Calls
Thursday, July 10, 1-2pm
Friday, June 27, 10-11am
Friday, July 11, 10-11am
16. What is the Memorandum of Agreement (MOA)?
The MOA clearly delineates responsibilities on behalf of LPHI and its consultants and C-IBHA
participants.
17. Who needs to be on the Leadership Change Team?
Each organization in the Collaborative will identify an Administrative Leader, Clinical Leader and an
overall Organization Team Leader/Champion. The overall Organization Team Leader/Champion
may be whoever is most appropriate for your organization (e.g. CEO, Administrative Leader, and
Clinical Leader). This leadership team will drive the strategic implementation and champion the
way to success.
18. What is a Change Team?
The organization’s leadership will designate all other clinical and administrative members needed
to ensure successful collaborative participation. All indentified staff working on C-IBHA
constitutes your Change Team.
19. Where can I find more resources on quality improvement and evidence-based practice guidelines for
depression and other common mental health conditions?
Review additional quality improvement resource materials at
http://lphi.org/home2/section/generic-165.
C-IBHA Kick-off Event
20. What is the C-IBHA Kick-off event?
The Kick-off is the opening event for the Collaborative to Improve Behavioral Health Access and
will provide technical assistance and training for your organizations to strategize and plan action
steps to meet the goals.
21. What specific technical assistance content will be offered at the C-IBHA Kick-off?
The C-IBHA Kick-off agenda will include training and experiential learning sessions designed to
fortify participants with tools to successfully implement a quality improvement program on
depression and other common mental health conditions, including:
GREATER NEW ORLEANS COLLABORATIVE TO
IMPROVE BEHAVIORAL HEALTH ACCESS (C-IBHA)
WITH SUPPORT FROM THE
FOUNDATION (RWJF)
ROBERT WOOD JOHNSON
Quality improvement methodology
Chronic Care Model
Evidence-based practice of depression and other common mental health conditions, e.g.
screening, diagnosis, interventions, and pharmacotherapy
Providing self-management support
Systems support, e.g. care managers and disease registries
22. Who should come to the C-IBHA Kick-off event on July 29-30, 2008 at the New Orleans Hilton
Riverside?
Each organization should send an Organizational Team Leader/Champion and Clinical and
Administrative Leaders/Champions as listed in their Technical Assistance Planning and
Implementation Questionnaire. Up to four individuals, including your Champions, determined to
be of value to your success may also attend the Kick-off event. The lead individual from your
complementary organization partner needs to attend the Kick-off with your team.
23. How do I sign up my organization for the Kick-off event?
Complete and email the C-IBHA Kick-off Participant Information Form to Sarah Hoffpauir by July 15,
2008.
24. What is a “complementary organization partner” and why do we need to have one?
A “complementary organization partner” is your organization’s reciprocal service organization.
E.g. A primary care organization will select a behavioral health organization; behavioral health
will choose a primary care organization. Designating a partner organization, and a lead individual
from that organization, will strengthen our health care system as a whole and prepare your
organization to interact more effectively concerning consultation, referral and information flow.
25. Does my complementary organization partner have to be a PCASG grantee?
No.
26. How do I find a community partner?
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Explore your organization’s informal relationships with complementary community partners,
e.g. clinician group, and whether they can become more formalized.

Network with the Behavioral Health Action Network members.
GREATER NEW ORLEANS COLLABORATIVE TO
IMPROVE BEHAVIORAL HEALTH ACCESS (C-IBHA)
WITH SUPPORT FROM THE
FOUNDATION (RWJF)

ROBERT WOOD JOHNSON
If you are still having challenge finding a complementary community partner, contact Sarah
Hoffpauir for assistance.
27. If my organization has collocated primary care and behavioral health services do I still need to
designate a community partner?
While this is left to the judgment of each organization, it is advisable to develop external
partnerships to strengthen the level of care offered to each client. External partnerships may be
useful in handling patient overflow, specialty referrals and improving our regional health care
system.