Susana Martinez (left, courtesy photo) and Diane Denish (photo by Heath Haussamen)
The state is about halfway through its 10-year experiment with the Behavioral Health Collaborative, an organization that aims to make delivery of mental health and substance abuse services more effective and efficient. Both candidates for governor say it’s time to consider making some changes.
Democratic gubernatorial candidate Diane Denish says the collaborative has faced challenges and “uneven results,” and, though she supports keeping the collaborative in place, she wants to make it “more effective in its execution.”
Republican candidate Susana Martinez says she has heard from medical professionals that the collaborative is not “operating at its full potential,” and she would want to have a team of professionals make recommendations about the agency’s future.
A number of state agencies – from the Department of Health to the Public Education Department to the Corrections Department – have to provide mental health and substance abuse services to some of the people they serve. The theory behind the collaborative is that by working together and contracting with one company to manage services, those agencies can more effectively and efficiently provide behavioral health services to New Mexicans.
Some have advocated for changes to the collaborative, while others have pushed to abolish it altogether. Doing either would require legislative approval. With that in mind, here are the questions I asked the gubernatorial candidates:
- Do you support continuing the collaborative or abolishing it, and why?
- If you favor continuing it, what changes, if any, should be made to improve it?
The responses:
Diane Denish
“The idea that we combine behavioral-health funding sources into a more unified approach is a good one in principle. However, in practice, the Collaborative has met with uneven results and has had its share of challenges.
“I support maintaining the collaborative, but making sure it is more effective in its execution. That means ensuring New Mexicans in need of behavioral services get them in a timely fashion. That also means creating a healthy network of behavioral care providers who are not constantly struggling to get paid and keep their doors open. I support eliminating excess bureaucracy in the payment system that makes it difficult for providers – all small businesses – to get paid and continue to provide services.
“I also believe much more can be done to integrate the behavioral-health consumers and their families into both the design of the collaborative and how collaborative dollars are spent.”
Susana Martinez
“New Mexico faces tremendous issues with respect to our health care system that are further complicated by a budget deficit that seems to grow worse by the day. I have concerns about the delivery of behavioral health services and the efficiency with which these services are being provided under the Collaborative model. The one billion dollar contract awarded to the management company deserves our closest scrutiny to ensure that the mission is being met with maximum dollars spent on patient care.
“One of the challenges we face in New Mexico is the exodus of medical professionals from the state, most notably in our rural communities. As I travel the state, I hear from medical professionals who have said that the Collaborative is not operating at its full potential for delivery of mental health care in New Mexico. That is a great concern to me.
“As governor, I would want a team of experts to examine the situation and offer recommendations so we can make well-informed decisions about the future of the Collaborative.”