The County Treatment Plan Coalition is comprised of 26 counties covering 2/3 of the population of California. Beginning in December, 2009, its boldly ambitious 2-year plan was to:
● Reconcile the MediCal framework of medical necessity and the MHSA framework of strength-based recovery into a comprehensive set of items that could support treatment plan documentation for the public mental health and substance use systems of care
● Assemble diverse stakeholders across counties covering most of California’s population to reach consensus on common content standards for treatment plan documentation spanning all age groups
The Coalition’s Steering Committee is happy to announce that the Coalition achieved its goals. Together the Coalition members:
● Formulated the design specifications of the product we wanted
● Selected an existing product that came closest to the Coalition’s needs and which could then be customized to more closely fit those needs
● Went through extensive edit processes with in-county and cross-county multi-stakeholder workgroups, content expert reviewers, and both the California Department of Mental Health (DMH) and Department of Alcohol and Drug Programs (DADP) MediCal reviewers
● Reached consensus on the wording of over 5000 items
● Finished within the projected budget and timeline
The major work of the Coalition is winding down, and the work of each county to implement the product is about to begin. As next steps, each implementing county (including non-member Coalition counties) can now:
● License the Treatment Plan Library (TPL) product from the developer at the steeply discounted Coalition member rate ($1 for the first year, nominal fee for future years). Note: For non-coalition counties and provider agencies the license fee is higher but still modest.
● Negotiate with its EHR software vendor to install the TPL into the county’s and their contracted provider organizations’ electronic health record (EHR) treatment plan module
● Work collaboratively and creatively with its EHR software vendor to design the content configuration with user-friendly Search Functions
● If further customization of the TPL content is desired to meet local needs and preferences, work collaboratively with the TPL vendor to do so
● Deploy a training program through internal staff or external contractors in best practice uses of the TPL. We strongly recommend that the training include:
- Orientation to the structure, features and content of the TPL
- How to document a logically connected flow from assessment to diagnosis and clinical formulation, then to treatment plan, and then to progress notes.
- How to use the TPL creatively within the consumer-provider relationship to work collaboratively and enhance a truly person-centered treatment plan.
For information regarding licensing of and training for the TPL, please contact:
Stan Taubman, Ph.D./ Berkeley Training Associates/ PO Box 611/ Tiburon, CA 94920Tel.: (415) 889-5749/ Email: btatraining@earthlink.net
For more information about the Coalition’s history, processes, and key contributors please see the Power Point presentation slides at: http://www.cimh.org/Initiatives/County-Treatment-Plans/Library.aspx If you have questions or feedback for the Steering Committee, please direct them to either: Mike Gorodezky: mgorodezky@cox.net, Ed Cohen: edward.cohen@sjsu.edu, or Tom Trabin: ttrabin@acbhcs.org