CMO Newsletter

Vol. 48

As we begin our new fiscal year (FY23, starting September 1), I was grateful for the time to reflect on the last year and some of the amazing accomplishments across our various teams. I’m summarizing some proud moments and appreciate the broader collaboration across groups to accomplish such great work. There’s so much more, and this is just a short list of some things that come to mind:

Quality and Innovation (now larger team with Health Analytics, Quality, and Innovation Departments): 

• Launched RL Safe Care by working closely with PMO (Maria Richardson) across the organization – RL is a much more interactive and user-friendly system for event reporting
• Expanded our team for quality/safety in alignment with the strategic plan – with several amazing leaders and new team members (excited to celebrate Trudy, Luc, and Tiffany joining us!)
• Enhanced our learning collaborative / Zero Suicide Implementation Team with 7 robust subcommittees
• Shared with the Board of Directors about our outcomes and progress in our quality journey and broader vision
• Refined our approach to research and study review by developing a research committee within the organization (led by Dr. Hickey) and identifying key data projects to assess clinical outcomes and improvement
• Realigned team members across our agency to create a centralized data analytics team (Dr. Hickey, Wei, Crystal, Carianna, and Evette) that partners closely with our IT colleagues to provide insights on care delivery
• Facilitated deep collaborations across our organization (thanks to Fred, Anna, Dre, Ee’a) for working through the details on our CARF accreditation – providing walker grids and information about our team’s work in performance improvement projects about our team’s work in performance improvement projects

Medical Services/Affairs:

• Created a community psychiatry 3^rd year rotation (with Dr. Budd, Hinman, Williams and as our first cohort in SW clinic) and deepened partnerships with academic medical programs (UTHealth and Baylor)
• Expanded our PA fellowship program (thank you Dr. Muzquiz for your leadership)
• Launched CME events across our medical staff, with robust participation and engagement across clinical areas and locations (thanks to Mercedes Montgomery for driving this effort)
• Promoted Dr. Mireya Hansen to medical director of the jail-based programs (thank you for your leadership!)
• Operationalized our Detox program at our 6160 location and collaborated with our operations team to support expand numerous crisis programs (thank you Dr. Mayers-Elder and Dr. Kapoor!)
• Collaborated to develop our first PES clinical dashboard with near real-time quality metrics with significant input from Dr. Pastusek (thank you!)
• Continued our Community Psychiatry Workforce Expansion (CWPE) collaborations to increase TX-trained psychiatry residents to work in public mental health systems and LMHAs

Pharmacy Programs:

• Developed our new Clinical Pharmacy Specialist positions and hired 3 individuals to support various locations in providing specialized services to enhance transitions of care and projects to enhance safety (big welcome to Mitchell, our most recent CPS team member to join!)
• Launched our 3^rd party billing project with metrics suggesting that we’ve had more than 1170 prescriptions filled over the last 6 months (thank you Angie and Tanya for your leadership!)
• Deepened our commitment to quality/safety through robust Pharmacy and Therapeutics discussions and meetings (with key data elements and some really amazing presentations by our pharmacists-in-charge, and many team members involved in this effort)

Integrated Care Programs:

• Shared about our Health Home program at the National Council, and have had a thriving journey to support value-based care here at The Harris Center
• Excelled in providing quality care (we have seen the positive performance measures and targets!) for complex individuals with high needs through the Optum project
• Exceeded our 3-year strategic plan target for number of individuals seen with primary care needs
• Received multiple grants (Episcopal Health Foundation, SAMHSA, and others) to support enhanced care for individuals with many social determinants of health and pursuing many more future grants (thank you Dr. Williams for moving us forward!)
• Participated in community collaboratives on health equity, patient-centered measure development and ECHO project to enhance substance 

In addition, we welcomed Bianca Diswani as our first Administrative Fellow to The Harris Center – she’s doing a phenomenal job connecting with various departments and working on some exciting projects (Please note our application process for our next fellow for 2023-2024 is occurring right now!)

We’ve also hosted CMO Retreats focused on leadership development, with presentations that have also been brought forward to our extended team members on topics such as emotional intelligence, crucial conversations, navigating change, etc. We’ve also had numerous educational events at staff meetings focused on clinical topics and updates to enhance our evidence-based care delivery. Kudos to the team for participating and for our efforts on ongoing investments in learning and development.

Focus Areas for FY23 as relevant to all our teams:

• Working on clinical care pathways per our strategic plan
• Focusing on key quality topics including access, safety, and equity – especially as related to transitions of care and high-risk transitions
• Enhancing our everyday care processes and programs to support patient-centered, high impact care delivery
• Enhancing our QI infrastructure through partnerships and investing in education on decentralized quality projects (keep an eye out from upcoming presentations to the Board on our Safety, Quality, and Experience Plan stated for September Board Quality)
• Strengthening external collaborations and community ties to enhance our footprint and visibility
• Promoting data-driven decision making and team building/collaboration across our areas

Lastly, please note that flu season is around the corner so consider getting your flu shots!

Please note the CME series will be on the 2nd and 4th Tuesday of every month throughout the year, and all medical staff and providers are invited to attend. The next CME event is on Tuesday, September 13^th  from 11:30am-1pm. Gina Jamal, MD, Kendra Thomas, JD, LPC and Shannon Fleming, JD will speak on the topic of “Firearm Violence and Assessing Risk”. Below is also a list of upcoming CME events. If you are interested in attending the CME event and did not receive the calendar invite, please contact Mercedes Montgomery.

Substance Use and Mental Health Disorders: Supporting Kinship Families

Description

It’s Kinship Care Month! NCSACW invites you to a webinar on services and supports for kinship and grand families affected by substance use and co-occurring mental health disorders.

Kinship care promotes stability and a sense of belonging, particularly as children maintain connections with their family and cultural identity. However, kinship and grandfamilies can face unique challenges when parent(s) of the children in care have a substance use or mental health disorder. These challenges can include ensuring access to specific developmental services for infants and children with prenatal substance exposure as well as tending to children’s emotional, physical, and behavioral challenges across developmental stages.

Join this webinar to learn:

•Specific needs of kinship and grandfamilies affected by substance use and co-occurring mental health disorders

•Services and supports available to help these families succeed

•About the Grandfamilies & Kinship Support Network: A National Technical Assistance Center

Time: Sep 14, 2022 10:00 AM in Pacific Time (US and Canada)

Click here for Webinar Registration.

Topic: Addressing Burnout in the Behavioral Health Workforce through Organizational Strategies

Description: This webinar will highlight findings from SAMHSA’s guide titled, Addressing Burnout in the Behavioral Health Workforce through Organizational Strategies, which explores evidence-based, organization-level strategies and promising practices to address burnout within the behavioral health workforce. Following a presentation of the goals and framing of the guide by SAMHSA’s Humberto Carvalho, MPH; Candace Chen, MD, MPH, George Washington University, from the guide’s technical expert panel will discuss its development. Ellen Childs, PhD, Abt Associates, will describe factors leading to burnout and relevant evidence-based strategies to address it. Representatives from organizations featured in the guide’s case studies will discuss development of their policies or programs to address burnout. The webinar will close with information about how to access the guide.

Time: Sep 20, 2022 10:00 AM in Pacific Time (US and Canada)

Click here for Webinar Registration. 

SMART Talk 

Single IRB and Noncompliance – 

A Case Study

Wednesday, September 21, 2022

2:00 PM ET | 1:00 PM CT | 12:00 PM MT | 11:00 AM PT

Handling noncompliance can be quite complicated when it happens at an institution whose own IRB is overseeing a study. Overlay single IRB on a noncompliance case, and the complexity can increase exponentially.

This SMART Talk will explore the roles and responsibilities when noncompliance happens under the single IRB model, highlight a real life example of how a Reviewing IRB and Relying Institution worked together to address noncompliance, and discuss how to identify noncompliance through audits, monitor for continuing noncompliance, and implement corrective action plans in the single IRB world.

Moderator

• Nichelle Cobb, Senior Advisor for SMART IRB and Senior Advisor for Strategic Initiatives for the Association for the Accreditation of Human Research Protection Programs (AAHRPP)

Panelists

• Andrea Morris, Assistant Director, Education, Human Research Affairs, Compliance & Education Office, Mass General Brigham
• Carissa Minder, Associate Director, Human Research Protection Office, Washington University in St. Louis
•  Kim Summers, Assistant Vice President for Research, University of Texas Health San Antonio

Click here to register

Welcome Tiffany Bittner our new Director of Clinical Transformation and Innovation 

Welcome Tiffany Bittner our new Director of Clinical Transformation and Innovation at the Harris Center. Tiffany comes to us with a strong clinical nursing background and strong leadership experience.  Tiffany started her career at Ben Taub emergency center, where she worked with trauma patients as well as patients with acute behavioral health concerns. She began her focus on quality and safety in 2014, where she championed quality and safety initiatives in her role as manager of the Texas Children’s Pediatric Psychiatry and Developmental Pediatrics and Autism clinics. Her focus on process improvement and strategic alignment of policies and growth strategies will serve us well in her new role.  

NASMHPD Annual 2022 Meeting Session Recap:

Lending Hands: Improving Partnerships and Coordinated Practices Between Police, Behavioral Health, and Other First Responders

The NASMHPD Annual 2022 Meeting Session, "Lending Hands: Improving Partnerships and Coordinated Practices Between Police, Behavioral Health, and Other First Responders" addressed best practices for building relationships with law enforcement and 911 diversion relating to trauma-informed care, 988, and crisis services.

Presented by Debra A. Pinals, M.D., Medical Director of Behavioral Health and Forensic Programs, Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, State of Michigan.

View Dr. Pinals' presentation slides. The full presentation recording can be viewed below.

• You are worthy of what you desire.
• Create your own happiness.
• Your challenges are opportunities.

Matt Cameron

• “Live life to the fullest and focus on the positive”

Carl Rogers

• “The good life is a process not a state of being. It is a direction, not a destination.”

• What would you do if you won the lottery?

Center for the Study of Traumatic Stress, Uniformed Services University Resources

Center for the Study of Traumatic Stress, Uniformed Services University Resources. Our hearts go out to those affected by recent tragic events. The following resources are available from the Center for the Study of Traumatic Stress, Uniformed Services University. We hope these resources are helpful.

• Coping with Stress Following a Mass Shooting
• Grief Leadership: Leadership in the Wake of Tragedy
• Safety, Recovery, and Hope After a Disaster: Helping Communities and Families Recover
• Helping People After A Loss
• Restoring a Sense of Well-Being in Children After a Disaster
• Psychological Debriefing After a Crisis: Current Evidence