Medicaid Behavioral Health Integration Stakeholder Advisory Group – Request for Participation

Dear District of Columbia Behavioral Health Stakeholders:

The District recently embarked on a Medicaid behavioral health redesign and transformation effort to establish an integrated care system that is comprehensive, coordinated, high-quality, culturally competent, and equitable. A key component of this project will be to carve-in behavioral health services into managed care contracts. DHCF plans to include behavioral health services as covered benefits in the District’s managed care contracts as of October 1, 2022 with the purpose of improving coordination and providing whole-person care.

To ensure that these efforts include the voices of stakeholders impacted by this change, we are forming a Behavioral Health Integration Stakeholder Advisory Group to provide input on key decisions relating to the carve-in of behavioral health services, identify potential issues and operational concerns, and provide solution-oriented feedback for consideration as part of a transparent Medicaid behavioral health integration planning and implementation process. This group will meet monthly beginning in February and continuing through the end of the year. The majority of their work is scheduled to be completed by October 2021 in order to facilitate FY23 budget formulation.

We are requesting nominations and expressions of interest from the following groups to serve as members of the Behavioral Health Integration Stakeholder Advisory Group:

• Consumers (beneficiaries)
• Caregivers
• Consumer organizations
• Providers offering behavioral health services across the continuum of care
• Provider organizations
• Medicaid Managed Care Organizations and relevant subcontractors

A draft charter with additional information is attached. This draft charter is intended for informational purposes only and once members are confirmed, the Stakeholder Advisory Group will refine and update the charter to fully reflect their membership, tasks, and scope of work.

If you are interested in serving on this group or would like to nominate another individual to serve, please send the potential member’s name, organization, stakeholder affiliation (from the categories listed above), and email address to Amelia Whitman at amelia.whitman@dc.gov no later than February 11. DHCF and DBH will reach out to those who have expressed interest no later than February 17.

Sincerely,

Amelia Whitman 

Deputy Chief of Staff

• BH Integration Stakeholder Advisory Group Charter_FINAL.pdf