Orange County Student Mental Health

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System Transformation Under the California Mental Health Services Act: Implementation of Full-Service Partnerships in L.A. County

Source: American Psychiatric Association

Resource Type: Website or Webpage Article

Audience(s): City or County Agency Staff, Community Member or Organization, Educators, Health or Mental Health Professional, School Staff or Administrators

Focus Population: BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, or People of Color), Foster Youth, Immigrant or Refugee, LGBTQ, Youth in Military Families, Youth with Disabilities

Topics: Mental Health Partnerships and Collaboration

Los Angeles County’s public mental health system was able to transform service delivery in response to well-funded policy mandates. For providers, a structure emphasizing accountability and patient centeredness was associated with greater stress, despite smaller caseloads. For clients, service structure and volume created opportunities to build stronger provider-client relationships and address their needs and goals. The Affordable Care Act (ACA) (1) is transforming health care delivery throughout the United States, increasing access for previously unserved populations and encouraging health care systems to provide coordinated, patient-centered care for chronic conditions to improve outcomes and reduce costs (http://innovation.cms.gov). For California’s public mental health system, large-scale transformation began earlier, in 2004, when voters passed Proposition 63, the Mental Health Services Act (MHSA) (2).