By Natalie Kelly
Florida has created a unique and effective safety net system to ensure uninsured and uninsured individuals receive critical behavioral health services. After the Parkland tragedy, Congress also left our safety net to implement a crisis response team to help those in need within 59 minutes. Behavioral Health Management entities, which act as a major agency contracting with the Children and Family Division, work with over 300 local providers across the state to provide local services, ranging from crisis interventions to long-term recovery support. Florida Behavioral Health Net System serves more than 250,000 individuals a year.
These major institutions operate as nonprofits and provide the highest return on investment with a management rate of less than 3.2%. This efficiency ensures that all taxpayer dollars are effectively used and transparently used with financial prudence.
Recently, Florida lawmakers introduced House Bill 633 and Senate Bill 1354. This requires the child and family department to subcontract operations and financial audits to assess which metrics and criteria are best for assessing performance and outcomes. The bill also standardizes data requirements and reporting, further increasing transparency for all stakeholders.
As CEO of the Florida Management Association, I can confidently confirm that my commitment to accountability and transparency is unwavering. Each behavioral health management entity submits over 65 reports per year to the Children and Family Department, detailing business practices, contract requirements, performance outcomes and expenditures.
We praise Representative Coster and Senator Trumbull for their leadership and commitment to developing future behavioral health performance management systems.
Beyond financial accountability, Florida Behavioral Health Management Entities focus on evidence-based best practices to maximize positive outcomes. In fiscal year 2023-2024, our provider network achieved the following results:
98% of children on the Community Action Treatment (CAT) team were diverted from involvement in the juvenile justice system. 97% of children in the CAT program avoided placing state hospitalized patients in psychiatric programs. 96% of individuals who enrolled in payer-level care adjustments avoided costly crisis stabilization units, emergency rooms and prisons. 80% of individuals were decouped from Baker Act entry through mobile-enabled teams, resulting in an estimated annual cost savings of $12.2 million in the state.
Behavioral Health Management Entities are just part of Florida’s vast and complex behavioral health systems. Transparency and accountability must extend across the behavioral health system, including private insurance and Florida’s statewide Medicaid-Managed Care Program, and be overseen by health care management agencies.
The network of behavioral health care entities and their providers is a safety net that values the state’s most vulnerable population. We are not only fully transparent and accountable, but we are dedicated to serving Floridians in the best possible way, meeting the unique needs of each community and ensuring Floridians can live to their fullest potential.
Natalie Kelly, CEO of the Florida Association of Management Organizations
