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CORHIO, Colorado Health Care Leaders Issue Report on Strategies to Integrate Behavioral and Physical Health Through ...

DENVER, April 5, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- As a measure to improve integration of behavioral and physical health, the Colorado Regional Health Information Organization (CORHIO) partnered with a multi-stakeholder behavioral health Steering Committee, and solicited feedback from communities across Colorado, to create a report with recommendations and future strategies for effective inclusion of behavioral health in health information exchange (HIE). The report was written as part of the CORHIO Behavioral Health Information Exchange Project with support from Rose Community Foundation.

The report is now available on the CORHIO website at www.corhio.org.

"Unfortunately, there is still a stigma associated with mental health conditions and some people fear that their diagnosis may fall into the wrong hands and will be used against them," says Amanda Kearney-Smith, director of the Colorado Mental Wellness Network and member of the project's Steering Committee. "We have to be sure to strike a careful balance between protecting individual privacy with the need to have comprehensive information available for high-quality health care treatment and services."

To solicit information for the report, CORHIO helped facilitate six meetings in communities across Colorado, which were chosen to represent a broad cross-section of perspectives and attitudes regarding HIE. A total of 124 consumers, physicians, and other behavioral health stakeholders were in attendance to discuss the concerns, opportunities and priorities of exchanging behavioral health information. The meetings took place in collaboration with community mental health centers and other behavioral health community organizations, so participants could feel comfortable and have open and honest dialogue.

A few key points that came out of the community discussions include:

Consumers expressed significant interest in having access to their health information within the HIE.Both physicians and patients expressed significant concerns, such as privacy issues and inappropriate use of information.Behavioral health stakeholders agree that better information sharing can lead to better outcomes for individuals and populations receiving behavioral health care.Participants expressed they would have more comfort with information sharing if there were more choice about which information would be shared with whom. Current models of all-in or all-out information sharing do not seem to meet the needs of this community.Across all six events, only one participant felt that better information sharing was not needed.

Studies have shown that the average life expectancy for those with serious mental illness ranges from 13 to 30 years less than the rest of the population.[1] Much of this can be attributed to fragmented, inconsistent, and episodic care. Individuals requiring behavioral health services have a unique need for integrated care due to frequent use of the healthcare system and a greater need to coordinate care among diverse providers. However, today, behavioral health care services are not well integrated with physical or medical care. According to the CORHIO report, nearly 90 percent of participants surveyed agree that behavioral health should be considered a part of a person's overall health care.

"HIE is an invaluable tool for the behavioral health community because it enables information to truly follow consumers through the entire treatment path, across a variety of care settings. It provides immediate access to vital patient information which reduces the chance that a consumer will experience a drug interaction or other medical complication and improves the overall consumer experience as they navigate the health care system," said CORHIO Policy Director, Liza Fox-Wylie. "CORHIO remains committed to working with the behavioral health and physical health communities to improve care coordination and population health outcomes through HIE, while protecting patients' rights to privacy."

CORHIO is developing an action plan based on the results and recommendations in this report, including working with project Steering Committee members and other stakeholder organizations on consumer, provider and policymaker education and working with CORHIO's technology partner, Medicity, to improve the robustness of HIE technology to support more granular options for patient choice regarding which information is shared with whom.

In September 2010, the Rose Community Foundation awarded CORHIO a two-year grant to support the Behavioral Health and Health Information Exchange Project, which funded the creation of CORHIO's behavioral health report. "Individuals' physical health, mental health and substance use are closely intertwined," said Whitney Connor, Rose Community Foundation's health program officer. "Provider access to timely information about their patients' medical and behavioral health is critical to delivering effective care."

About CORHIO
CORHIO is dedicated to improving health care quality for all Coloradans through health information exchange (HIE). As the state designated entity for HIE, CORHIO collaborates with health care stakeholders including physicians, hospitals, clinics, public health, long-term care, laboratories, health plans and patients to improve care collaboration through secure systems and processes for sharing clinical information. CO-REC, a CORHIO initiative, assists primary care providers in adopting, implementing and becoming meaningful users of electronic health record (EHR) systems. CORHIO is a not-for-profit supported in large part by grants, including awards from the Colorado Health Foundation and from federal ARRA HITECH funds. CORHIO's technical infrastructure is built on industry-leading HIE technology developed and maintained by Medicity.  For more information about CORHIO, please visit www.corhio.org.

[1] Colton CW, Manderscheid RW. Congruencies in increased mortality rates, years of potential life lost, and causes of death among public mental health clients in eight states. Prev Chronic Dis [serial online] 2006 Apr. URL: http://www.cdc.gov/pcd/issues/2006/apr/05_0180.htm.

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Strategic Behavioral Health, LLC Acquires Montevista Hospital and Red Rock Behavioral Health in Las Vegas

MEMPHIS, Tenn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Strategic Behavioral Health, LLC (SBH), a national provider of inpatient and outpatient services, announced that effective January 1, 2012, it has acquired the assets of Montevista Hospital (Montevista) and Red Rock Behavioral Health Hospital (Red Rock) located in Las Vegas, Nevada from Universal Health Services, Inc. (UHS). The acquisition is being made pursuant to the divestiture requirements agreed upon by the Federal Trade Commission, the Nevada Attorney General, and UHS following UHS’s acquisition of Psychiatric Solutions. SBH is a portfolio company of Dobbs Management Service, LLC (DMS) which represents the John Hull Dobbs family of Memphis.

The Montevista and Red Rock facilities are licensed acute psychiatric hospitals with 101 total beds providing services on two campuses in Las Vegas. Montevista has served Las Vegas for over 25 years as a provider of acute behavioral healthcare services including geriatric, adult, chemical dependency, and child and adolescent areas. Montevista’s sister facility, Red Rock, was established in 2005 to expand inpatient acute behavioral services to the geriatric population. The facilities bring the total existing or planned beds for Strategic Behavioral Health, LLC to over 350 beds in North Carolina, Colorado, and Nevada across five facilities.

Ben Winbery, Chief Executive Officer of both the Montevista and Red Rock facilities commented, “I am very pleased to be joining such a solid company with a true commitment to quality clinical care and a long-term view of the operations.”

Jim Shaheen, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of SBH, stated in a press release, “We are excited to be entering the Las Vegas market through the acquisition of Montevista and Red Rock. We are impressed with its management and staff and their attention to patient-centered care. We believe we have an opportunity to significantly grow both facilities.”

Shaheen added, “While SBH has historically focused on organic growth through the opening of new facilities, this acquisition was too attractive to pass up given the expansion opportunities it presents. Because of the high quality care being provided by the facilities, both are operating at or near capacity. As a result, we will be adding 60-80 additional beds at the Montevista site. We anticipate that construction will begin in 2012.”

Edward Dobbs, President of DMS, commented, “This Las Vegas acquisition is highly complementary to SBH’s existing assets and provides a great base for further growth. We look forward to additional opportunities to invest in SBH’s growth through greenfield facilities and highly selective strategic acquisitions. Our long-term goal is to make SBH a leading private provider of behavioral healthcare services in the nation.”

SBH worked with Fifth Third Bancorp, First Tennessee Bank, and Pinnacle Financial to finance the Montevista and Red Rock acquisitions. When coupled with the financing for the expansion of North Carolina and Colorado operations, the financing provides $40 million in funding with the ability to expand for future projects.

About Strategic Behavioral Health, LLC

Strategic Behavioral Health was founded to design, build, and operate state-of-the art behavioral health facilities throughout the United States. Based in Memphis, SBH currently operates facilities in Colorado and North Carolina. It is constructing new and expanded facilities in both Colorado and North Carolina. Strategic Behavioral Health is dedicated to providing the highest quality behavioral health services. Please visit the Strategic Behavioral Health website.

About Dobbs Management Service, LLC

Through DMS, the John Hull Dobbs family invests with a long-term perspective. The Dobbs family has a nearly 100 year history of successful long-term investing in businesses with good market positions, growth opportunities and exceptional management teams. DMS’s investment strategy is flexible but generally focuses on business-to-business services companies as well as healthcare services and distribution.

The family currently owns several companies in addition to SBH, including Premier Distributing, a beverage distribution company; DYK Automotive, LLC, a national automotive aftermarket oil, chemicals and parts distributor; Frenkel & Company, LLC, an international commercial insurance and healthcare benefits broker based in New York, NY; JHD Dental, LLC, a children’s dental clinic operator; and, Potter Electric Signal, LLC, a market leading fire and security controls manufacturer.

Historically, the Dobbs family has owned Dobbs Automotive, a national automobile dealership group; Unison Health Plans, a private multi-state Medicare and Medicaid HMO; and Dobbs International, an airline catering and restaurant company. For additional information about DMS and the portfolio companies of the John Hull Dobbs family, please refer to the Dobbs Management website.

About Fifth Third Bancorp

Fifth Third Bank arranged and led a Bank syndicate to provide financing for the acquisition. Fifth Third Bancorp is a diversified financial services company headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio with over $115 billion in assets. Headquartered in Nashville, Fifth Third’s Healthcare maintains over $7.0 billion in commitments to various healthcare companies including acute care, psychiatric hospitals, outpatient services, long term care, medical devices, managed care, information technology, and other related healthcare services. Fifth Third Bank focuses on financing solutions for acquisitions, growth, recapitalizations, refinancing and working capital facilities, and bridge loans to capital markets transactions.

First Tennessee National Bank and Pinnacle National Bank also participated in the Fifth Third led Credit Facility.

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