Step Into My Office
Visitors to my office frequently point out that the content that fills my desk and computer screen is heavy.
My desk is usually strewn with briefs describing the latest numbers on topics such as suicide or substance use treatment admissions. I’ve recently spent a lot of time on my white board drawing out ideas for an analysis on the relationship between violent crime and mental health. And my computer browser usually has at least two or three tabs open to news stories of recent overdose deaths.
It’s true that topics in behavioral health can be difficult to talk about. Stigma around behavioral health persists and many find themselves uncomfortable talking about challenges faced by friends, family or even themselves.
At CHI, we’ve found that talking about the data is an effective way to ground these conversations. Data on mental health can be hard to find, but we’re lucky in Colorado to have the Colorado Health Access Survey (CHAS) – fielded and analyzed by CHI, funded by The Colorado Trust – as a resource.
The CHAS added a series of mental health questions in 2013. In addition to asking respondents to self-report their mental health status, the survey measures the unmet need for mental health care. In 2015, 9.0 percent of Coloradans said there was a time that they did not receive needed mental health care or counseling services in the past year.
The CHAS is unique in that it also asks respondents why they did not get that care. The 2015 CHAS found that reasons related to cost and insurance decreased from 2013, most likely because of the Affordable Care Act’s coverage expansion. However, more Coloradans who did not get needed care cited reasons related to stigma in 2015 than 2013. You can view the full data here.
The data from the 2013 and 2015 CHAS offer an in-depth look at reasons for foregoing care. These data are useful, but a new question for 2017 will fill in another gap: knowing who did receive care.
The question asks respondents if they have seen or talked to a health care provider about their mental health in the past year. This new question – a request we have heard from stakeholders many times over the last four years – will allow CHI to track changes in use of mental health care.
And there’s lots to track, thanks to efforts to increase access to behavioral health care in Colorado during the last few years. Large-scale projects such as Colorado’s State Innovation Model (SIM) aim to integrate physical and behavioral health. One hundred practices officially launched these efforts in February 2016 and 300 more will come onboard by 2018. Smaller scale projects across the state focus on issues such as reducing stigma in an effort to encourage more Coloradans to seek the care they need for behavioral health challenges.
The new CHAS question is just one of the six new topics added on the 2017 survey. Throughout the summer, CHI-ers will blog about these new topics as we approach the launch of the 2017 results in September. Make sure to follow us on Twitter @cohealthinst and visit our website frequently to stay in the loop on all things CHAS.