The Minnesota Department of Human Services Behavioral Health Division oversees the funding for a wide variety of mental health and substance abuse programs across Minnesota. That funding comes from taxpayers at the state and federal level, and it's our responsibility to make sure contracts are diligently tracked and managed. A new contract management system will help us do just that.

Currently, the division does not have a centralized system for the contracts and grants it manages. Grant managers need to navigate through 10 systems in order to find the documents, financial information and data they need to do their job.

Starting Jan. 3, 2022, our staff will use a new one-stop-shop for contract management called the Contract Integration Application: a data system that houses, manages and makes grant and contract data accessible for the entire life-cycle of the project.

This tool has been in development for over a year, and has required partnerships with many areas within the department and with Minnesota IT Services. It builds on our division’s previous improvement efforts for contracting and grant monitoring processes, and will offer greater control, access and simplification for grant managers. This tool is going to be critical as we invest new federal funding that Minnesota has received for behavioral health programs and services.

The Behavioral Health Division has recently placed significant energy to improve compliance and administrative efficiencies. Although our focus is on internal processes like this new tool, the benefits are ultimately for our partners, providers, consumers, and stakeholders.

As we improve efficiency, we are able to provide faster and higher quality service for those that depend on us. As we improve compliance, we enhance quality control and reduce waste. This tool will improve the effective administration of contracting and grant-making, and enable us to focus more on what matters most — maximizing Minnesota’s behavioral health delivery system.

The Minnesota Department of Human Services, in partnership with Wilder Research, is seeking individuals who are Minnesota Health Care Program enrollees and only access services via phone to participate in a one-on-one interview to learn more about their experiences and needs when they access services.

Participants will receive a $25 gift card for doing the interview. The interview will be conducted via phone or a video-conferencing platform such as WebEx or Zoom.

To be eligible to participant, individuals must:

• Be currently enrolled in Medical Assistance and/or MinnesotaCare for at least 18 months
• Have talked to a therapist, counselor, doctor, or nurse on at least eight occasions in the past 18 months about their behavioral health or physical health concerns by phone only, and
• Be at least 18 years of age.

Those interested in participating in an interview should contact Bunchung Ly at bunchung.ly@wilder.org or 651-280-2725. The interviews are expected to take place in February and March 2022.