Behavorial Health Initiative Action Team
Action Team Goal
The Enhance the Coordination of Care Action Team is working to reduce the burden on community health workers, resource navigators, and care coordinators in Northwest Michigan by making it easier for them to locate and access resources for their clients. They are working to increase awareness of the care coordination groups in the ten-county Northwest Michigan region and to build an information sharing network across care coordinators in the region.
Targeted Problem
The behavioral health and social services delivery systems are complex and difficult to navigate. Individuals are often unaware of the resources available and who is eligible for which program. The high turnover among providers and care coordinators leads to a loss of institutional and collective knowledge and an increased difficulty in navigating the system.
Our Collective Work
To address this problem, the Enhance the Coordination of Care Action Team has developed a Care Coordination Network Website and launched a Shared Care Coordinators Slack Pilot. See below for the resources and tools developed by this team.
Care Coordination Network Website
The Enhance the Coordination of Care Action Team developed The Care Coordination Network Website micarecoordinationnetwork.org as a hub for care coordinators, resource navigators, and community health workers in Northwest Michigan. The website contains a directory of care coordination groups (any gathering of people working to identify resources and coordinate care in their community, either directly on a case-by-case basis or on a systems level) in the Northwest CHIR region so care coordinators can easily find resources for their clients. The site also includes a shared calendar for trainings relevant to care coordinators, and an Access Barrier Reporting Form for care coordinators to report the challenges they face when attempting to access services for a client. The results of this form are shared with both the BHI and MITHRIVE. As of August, 2024 the website has had over 450 unique visitors and over 4,000 views since its launch in Spring of 2023.
Shared Care Coordination Slack Pilot
The Enhance the Coordination of Care Action Team has designed and launched a pilot of a Shared Care Coordinators Slack to connect care coordinators across organizations around the region. In the private Slack group, care coordinators can post access questions/challenges related to the different social determinants of health and share answers and resource ideas with each other. Overall, the goal of the Shared Care Coordinators Slack is to help care coordinators find resources for their clients, help them overcome barriers to accessing services, and help retain and access collective knowledge. This first pilot phase targets care coordinators in Antrim, Benzie, Grand Traverse, Kalkaska, and Leelanau counties. 37 care coordinators from 22 different organizations are participating in this initial pilot. Initial feedback from pilot participants is very positive; they report that the Slack Channel has made it easier to find resources for the individuals and families they support.
Action Team Members
Since 2021, 32 stakeholders in the Northwest Michigan region have been engaged in the work of this Action Team.
Leaders
- Debbie Aldridge – Benzie-Leelanau District Health Department
- Jenifer Murray – NMCHIR Community Connections
Members
- Heidi Britton – Northwest Michigan Health Services
- Amy Burk – Communities in Schools of Northwest Michigan
- Megan England – District Health Department #10
- Sarah Hughes – Northwest Michigan Community Action Agency
- Sarah May
- Ranae McCauley – M103 Representative Betsy Coffia
- Ashley McKay – Cadillac Family Physicians
- Sally Mellema – District Health Department #10
- April Missias – Leelanau County Senior Services
- Jill Oesterle – Michigan Center for Rural Health
- Elizabeth Post – Ferris State University
- Lindsey Schnell – Michigan Primary Care Association
- Nicole Schultz – Wexford Missaukee Manistee Great Start Collaborative
- Tracy Spincich – Northwest Education Services
- Amy Strom – Early On
- Courtney Wiggins
WHAT CAN YOU DO TO SUPPORT OUR WORK?
- Submit service access and care coordination challenges through the Access Barrier Reporting Form.
- Tell care coordinators in your network about the Care Coordination Network Website.
- List any trainings your organization is hosting that are relevant to care coordinators on the Shared Calendar on the Care Coordination Network Website.
- Invite care coordinators you know to sign up for the Shared Community Slack Pilot!
