Bernalillo County commissioners want to simplify the bureaucracy around behavioral health services

Commissioners Adriann Barboa and Eric Olivas want to create a Behavioral Health Authority in an effort to make it easier to navigate services in that area offered by Bernalillo County.

The goal is “to institute a ‘no-wrong-door’ approach, providing immediate access to those seeking behavioral health care,” the proposed ordinance states.

“It has become apparent that we have to address our behavioral health needs if we expect to increase our public safety, and so this puts a structure; it creates the first ever Division of Behavioral Health with a top authority that has the expertise needed,” Barboa said.

The proposed ordinance would unify behavioral health intervention services, and treatment and support across the county. It would consolidate and integrate the Behavioral Health Initiative and the Department of Behavioral Health Services’ direct care services. Wayne Lindstrom, the new deputy county manager for behavioral health, would oversee the Behavioral Health Authority.

The Behavioral Health Authority would also be “a key catalyst and partner in the further development of a regional and statewide system of Behavioral Health Care and Support,” the ordinance states.

“Right now, we’ve kind of siloed everything and said, ‘Well, that’s behavioral health tax money; we can’t talk about this money because it’s DWI money,’ even though it’s funding a behavioral health service,” Olivas said.

The ordinance would also create a medical director position, who could be contracted or hired and would offer day-to-day advice about best practices from a medical perspective. It would put evaluations for different behavioral health services under one county division.

“We sort of piecemeal have a bunch of evaluations that have evaluated different parts of the program,” Barboa said. “This puts everything under one roof, makes sure we’re seeing the whole landscape.”

In 2014, voters approved the Behavioral Health Initiative Tax, a one-eighth percent of gross receipts tax, to generate more funding for behavioral health services in Bernalillo County. Barboa said the ordinance will outline how that funding is spent.

Olivas said that past measures addressing the money’s allocation have been transient in the form of resolutions and haven’t spelled out how the county and providers will be held accountable for administering the funding.

The ordinance also calls for a public-facing online dashboard that can track how behavioral health money is being spent and how much is in reserve, as well as evaluations of providers that gather information, such as which actively have beds available.

On Tuesday, the commissioners postponed voting on the new Behavioral Health Authority Ordinance so that more public comment can be gathered.

Barboa said that substantial changes have been made to the ordinance based on public feedback, so she would like to allow the public time to review the ordinance with the changes before it is passed.

Some of the additions include information about emergency crisis services, including 988, the suicide and crisis line. The commissioners also added a three-person technical advisory committee and a community group.

The technical advisory committee could oversee how data gets reviewed and shared. Olivas said that the committee is modeled after the Albuquerque Bernalillo County Water Utility’s technical advisory board. The technical advisory committee might discuss issues such as best practices for treatments at the CARES Campus or what data providers in social work should be collecting, Olivas said.

Barboa and Olivas plan to bring the ordinance back for a vote during the commission’s June 25 meeting.