Challenges

• Disparate systems and processes
• Limited availability
• Unable to effectively support the Golden Thread

Solution

• Qualifacts Carelogic

Results

• One interconnected EHR for all service lines
• Carelogic configurablility to continuously meet CCBHC requirements
• • Access to performance and quality measures analytics

As a longstanding comprehensive mental health care provider in Missouri, Bootheel Counseling Services (BCS) has seen decades of growth and change since its founding in 1976. Bootheel achieved Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinic (CCBHC) status in 2022, under the Missouri Demonstration program, five years after choosing Qualifacts and the CareLogic EHR platform to support its work.

“We originally chose Qualifacts for its commitment to Missouri and for the interconnected capabilities of its offerings,” said Tammy Abner-Duenne, Supervisor for Information Technology. “When we received the CCBHC expansion grant, we knew we had the right partnership to move forward together.”

“The CareLogic EHR gives us the ability to manage clinical documentation, billing, and scheduling in one application. Going forward, being able to manage an integrated treatment plan and pull the goals into the services, supported by the Golden Thread, we can continue to easily and efficiently support our work as a CCBHC and the additional community work we do,” Taryn LeGrand-Lovett, Clinical Director, Bootheel Counseling Services.

The CCBHC treatment model includes a major shift to many of the agency’s workflows including the move to same day access and the delivery of more community-based services. As a CCBHC providing whole person care, the agency develops and maintains new collaborations with entities such as schools, the court system, first responders, and the veteran’s administration. To align the CCBHC required services with new workflows, alternative payment models, and outcomes data collection and reporting, BCS leveraged the flexibility and configurability of the CareLogic EHR platform and integrated solutions, along with the experience of the Qualifacts CCBHC leadership and peers.

“We chose Qualifacts and its CareLogic EHR because of the platform’s end-to-end capability, how the system moves from scheduling a service, delivering the service, enabling the documentation, tying in the billing and the claims, and posting the payments,” Tammy Abner-Duenne
Supervisor for Information Technology, Bootheel Counseling Services

We gained so much in configurability that when we became a CCBHC, we continued to look to Qualifacts to keep partnering with us while our inhouse team was self-managing changes and updates.”

CareLogic’s configurability allows the CCBHC to meet the requirements of the nine CCBHC led outcome measures with minimal impact to clinical workflows.

• The CareLogic EHR includes alerts that prompt the provider to deliver follow-up care in a timely manner.
• Clinical Decision Support rules that can be user-configured in the EHR improve the consistent use of evidence-based practices, another requirement of the CCBHC.
• CareLogic’s robust reporting and analytics tools provide transparency into each provider’s performance on clinical quality outcomes, as well as providing a quantifiable representation of the CCBHC’s overall delivery of quality services.

“With the updated SAMHSA criteria for CCBHCs that go into effect for most CCBHCs in July of 2024, a CCBHC will be required to collaborate with the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline,” said Mary Givens, Qualifacts CCBHC Program Manager. “BCS is already doing that work and is one of the entities 988 reaches out to when a crisis cannot be resolved via a phone call or if the client needs follow up treatment.”

“For anyone who is in crisis, we provide support and try to wrap them in services and connect them with resources,” said Twan Robinson, Coordinator of Crisis Services. “We take referrals, we follow up with 988 crisis line services calls, and we respond by phone or face to face with 24-hour coverage. Our staff respond in the daytime, in the nighttime and on the weekends.”

“In some situations, we can get a call that an officer is at a home and wanting CBHL’s help, or they are looking for collaboration to support a homeless person on the street,” said Angela Lutmer, Community Behavioral Health Liaison (CBHL). “We know who to call and law enforcement appreciates the collaboration in the courts, in the hospitals, and in the street. There are so many different processes we’ve worked out to make support more accessible.”

Deeply connected to the people it serves, BCS has long been recognized for the depth and breadth of its commitment. Bootheel staff have decades of experience in coordinating services for people with behavioral health concerns including social determinants of health issues. BCS has long-standing relationships with community resources including those who can address housing issues and food insecurities.

Angela Lutmer was recognized as the CBHL of the Year in 2023 by The Missouri Crisis Intervention Team (MO CIT) Council, an organization whose primary purpose is to facilitate understanding, development, and implementation of CIT programs throughout the state. The Community Behavioral Health Liaison (CBHL) position was initiated a decade ago to enhance collaboration between law enforcement and behavioral health providers.

Youth Behavioral Health Liaisons Services (YBHLS) are distributed among the community behavioral health organizations across Missouri to form better community partnerships between behavioral health services, schools, children’s division, juvenile office, family court, law enforcement, and other children and youth-serving state agencies. Because of Bootheel’s intense outreach through one YBHL position, they were selected by the state to be given an additional YBHL position. This additional position enables BCS to serve more youth in need. “Since becoming a CCBHC, we have been able to employ more staff to provide services to consumers,” said Taryn LeGrand-Lovett, Clinical Director.

Today, BCS trains four counties in Crisis Intervention Services, welcoming representatives from law enforcement and other first responders, including EMS teams. BCS weaves its range of programs together to address community needs as they emerge.

About Bootheel Counseling Services

Bootheel Counseling Services is a private, not-for-profit organization providing services in Southeast Missouri since 1976. Bootheel is the State of Missouri’s Administrative Agent for mental health services for the counties of Scott, Stoddard, Mississippi, and New Madrid. Bootheel’s mission is to provide excellent comprehensive behavioral health care that will maximize the human potential and quality of life for the individuals and communities served.