The Public Consulting Group (PCG) is conducting a comprehensive analysis of the public behavioral health system in Texas, as required by DSHS Rider 71, General Appropriations Act, 82nd Texas Legislature, 2011. PCG’s efforts will focus on two major components: (1) a comprehensive study of the current public behavioral health system in Texas and (2) short and long term recommendations for the Texas behavioral health system.
PCG will be conducting six (6) stakeholder forums during the months of December and January to provide stakeholders with an overview of the engagement and to gather stakeholder input on the current behavioral health system. All interested stakeholders are encouraged to attend one of the six (6) public stakeholder forums.
For additional information regarding the stakeholder forums, including dates, times and locations of the forums, please visit the DSHS website at http://www.dshs.state.tx.us/mhsa/mhsa-analysis.aspx.
All stakeholder forum documents can be found by clicking on the Document Library on the right hand side of this page. The documents include the presentation and handout for the forums and the notes captured during each forum.
PCG will be conducting seven (7) stakeholder forums between June 5 and June 14 to provide stakeholders with an overview of the draft options that were developed for system reform based on the Phase I analysis and to gather stakeholder input on these options and other options that could be considered prior to the development of final recommendations. All interested stakeholders are encouraged to attend one of the seven (7) public stakeholder forums. For additional information regarding the stakeholder forums, including dates, times and locations of the forums, please visit the DSHS website at http://www.dshs.state.tx.us/mhsa/mhsa-analysis.aspx. The draft options for system reform are detailed in the document titled "PCG Draft Options for System Reform", which can be found in the Document Library on the right hand side of the page. Additional documents for the Phase II stakeholder forums, including any presentations, handouts, or forum notes will be added to the Document Library as they become available.
PCG’s comprehensive analysis of the current public behavioral health system in Texas will include a review of the programmatic structure of the system. This work includes the identification of various provider types delivering services, service delivery mechanisms, service offerings, and the various populations receiving services throughout the behavioral system. PCG will also review the financial structure of the current behavioral health system to understand the current and existing sources of funding leveraged to pay for behavioral health services. Lastly, PCG’s analysis of the current behavioral health system will include a review of other states’ behavioral health systems to identify potential options for Texas to improve their behavioral health service delivery system. This initial phase of the analysis will result in the comprehensive report to DSHS on the current state of the public behavioral health system in Texas.
Upon submission of the comprehensive report to DSHS, PCG will begin work on the second phase of the analysis, which will result in providing recommendations to improve access, service utilization, patient outcomes, and system efficiencies. The recommendations generated will include short term recommendations focused on efficiencies and long term recommendations or the behavioral health system.
In addition to available state programmatic and financial data on the behavioral health system, PCG and DSHS recognize that gaining insights from stakeholders is essential to developing a comprehensive view of the behavioral health system. With this in mind, PCG will, with the assistance of DSHS, reach out to the behavioral health community over the next few months to capture additional local data and information that is critical to the success of the analysis. At this time, PCG and DSHS are continuing to finalize the details for these outreach efforts. Once the details are finalized, additional information will be communicated to the behavioral health community to ensure those interested in participating in this effort will have the opportunity to do so.
Comments for this study can also be sent directly to PCG at the following e-mail address: TXBHStudy@pcgus.com.
Additional information pertaining to this study can be found on the DSHS website at
http://www.dshs.state.tx.us/mhsa/mhsa-analysis.aspx.
