MILWAUKEE COUNTY BEHAVIORAL HEALTH DIVISION

As a subcontractor to Human Services Research Institute (HSRI), TAC, along with the Milwaukee-based Public Policy Forum, has provided technical assistance to support Milwaukee County's mental health system redesign efforts, including an evaluation of community-based services and an assessment of inpatient capacity. TAC partnered with HSRI to support a stakeholder input and participatory planning process, which combined with data from service planning and evaluation surveys of case managers, providers, and consumers, service utilization and assessment data, and national best practices, formed the basis for recommendations for system improvements which were highlighted in the 2010 report, Transforming the Adult Mental Health Care Delivery System in Milwaukee. The report's recommendations, which are focused on a redesigned system that reduces reliance on inpatient and emergency department services by increasing crisis response and hospital diversion services, as well as enhanced best practice, recovery-oriented community-based services, have resulted in several changes to the Milwaukee County mental health system over the past few years. In addition to providing technical support for the policy and financial aspects of the redesign and implementation, TAC analyzed both short-and long-term adult psychiatric inpatient and outpatient capacity in the County, including the development of a formula to project adult psychiatric inpatient bed need.