AltaPointe’s CCBHC Model (Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinic)

MOBILE, Ala. (WALA) - With a continued nation-wide push for better access to mental health services, AltaPointe Health is leading the way in Alabama by offering the latest model of care that takes mental healthcare out of a silo and focuses on caring for physical health as well as mental health. AltaPointe’s Katie Emer joined us on Studio10 to tell us more about it.

The CCBHC Model

The Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinic (CCBHC) model is a model of care that enables patients to receive whole person services from their point of entry into care. It provides a comprehensive range of mental health and substance abuse services, as well as addresses any social determinants of health a patient may have (i.e., issues related to housing, lack of income or insurance, unemployment, transportation). It allows providers to ensure health equity and high-quality care for underserved populations, as well as veterans, patients involved in the justice system, and patients needing substance abuse treatment.

CCBHCs also provide care coordination services to help people navigate behavioral health care, physical health care, social services, and other systems they are involved with.

While Alabama is looking to join multiple states across the country that have implemented the CCBHC model for all of their mental health centers state-wide, AltaPointe Health has been operating outpatient clinics with the CCBHC model since 2021, thanks to grant funding AltaPointe sought and was awarded by SAMHSA.

Benefits of CCBHC

Members of the community can come to AltaPointe and get connected with multiple services at one time, and this results in eliminating barriers regarding social determinants of health. The sooner their basic needs are addressed, the better their treatment outcomes.

AltaPointe has also taken the integrated care approach even further by including a primary care medical team under the same roof. Staff have also incorporated ways to identify physical health care needs in addition to mental health needs, and have an entire team dedicated to linking individuals with same-day treatment for their primary or physical health needs and assisting them with navigating the process.

Another resource AltaPointe provides as part of the CCBHC model is a care coordination team and community health workers that assist patients in navigating all their healthcare needs. They can work with individuals to ensure appointments are made, and appropriate information is shared with providers. This link between our care and the care provided by others has helped our team become better equipped to meet their treatment needs, as well as allowing our patients to now have someone who is directing and coordinating their treatment, rather than them having to put all the pieces together.

CCBHC Success

AltaPointe has seen first-hand the benefits of the CCBHC model in action. As patients have come in for mental health assessments, once it was determined they had social determinants of health needs, AltaPointe has been able to get them connected with the care coordination team who assisted them with getting linked with the necessary resources to help address those needs. Whether it’s helping patients get connected with our benefits specialist for needs related to insurance and disability, or connecting patients with our supported employment program to assist them with finding stable employment, or even connecting homeless patients with our PATH program to help navigate the homeless resources in our area, just to name a few.

Learn more about AltaPointe Health’s CCBHC integration at https://altapointe.org/certified-community-behavioral-health-clinic-ccbhc/.