2014 Innovation in Behavioral Healthcare Services Award Winners Announced

Submitted by: 05/08/2014 by Maureen Fitzgerald


The 2014 Innovation in Behavioral Healthcare Services Award (iAwards) recognize the achievements of participants in BHbusiness: Mastering Essential Business Operations. The winning organizations will receive an all-expense paid trip to the National Council for Behavioral Health Conference, May 5-7, 2014, in Washington, D.C.

Sponsored by NIATx and the State Associations of Addiction Services (SAAS) and funded by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMSHA), the 2014 iAwards highlight innovations in business practices that position an organization to meet the challenges of future service delivery.

This year’s winners participated in BHbusiness Learning Networks that ran from March through September 2013. Each of the organizations will present a workshop highlighting their innovation at the National Council Conference.

The winning organizations are:

The Alcoholism Council of the Greater Cincinnati Area, Cincinnati, OH

Participating in the BHbusiness Strategic Business Planning Learning Network helped this team create a system for billing covered by Medicaid. By examining the agency’s Medicaid billing workflow, the team identified changes they could make and, by August 2013, generated $84,831 in new Medicaid revenue.  Read more about their project.

Honorable Mentions

Casa de Esperanza Outpatient Clinic, Waukesha, WI  

Casa de Esperanza applied skills learned in the BHbusiness Third-party Contract Negotiations Learning Network to increase contracts with third-party payers by 50%. By August 2013 they had exceeded their goal, increasing contracts by 67%.

Southwest Iowa Mental Health Center, Atlantic, IA

The SWIMHC team participated in the BHBusiness Third-party Billing and Compliance Learning Network. They set a goal to reduce their denial rate from third-party payers. By August 2013 they had reduced denials from 10% to 0.

About BHBusiness:

BHBusiness: Mastering Essential Business Operations is a series of online courses and expert coaching designed to help executives and their teams prepare their mental health, substance use disorder, or behavioral health organizations for the seismic changes occurring now in the behavioral health field. Having strong business operations is crucial for providers to meet the challenges of the evolving healthcare marketplace and position their organizations for growth. Funded by SAMHSA and coordinated by State Association of Addiction Services (SAAS) in partnership with NIATx, AHP, and the National Council, BHbusiness is provided at no cost to participants. For more information or to apply, visit http://www.bhbusiness.org

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