Grant award to the Division of Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities, Department of Health and Social Services, State of Alaska.  Center for Substance Abuse Treatment (CSAT), Center for Mental Health Services (CMHS), Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), HHS.  Availability of grant funds for the Division of Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities, Department of Health and Social Services, State of Alaska.
This notice is to inform the public that CSAT and CMHS are making available approximately $5,000,000 for an award in FY 1999 to the Division of Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities, Department of Health and Social Services, State of Alaska to support development, implementation, and evaluation of a comprehensive, seamless system of care for persons with co-occurring substance abuse (including alcohol and other drugs) and mental health disorders in Anchorage, Alaska, and its environs.  CSAT and CMHS will make this award if the application is recommended for approval by the Initial Review Group and the CSAT and CMHS National Advisory Councils.  This is not a formal request for applications; assistance will be provided only to the Alaska Division of Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities.  Eligibility for this program is limited to the State of Alaska, as specified in Congressional report language, in recognition of primacy of its responsibility for, and interest in, providing for the needs of its citizens, and because the success of the program will depend upon the authority and ability to broadly coordinate the variety of resources essential for full program success.  The State has committed itself to moving certain mental health services from their extant institutional bases to community bases, and, simultaneously, changing from parallel systems of service delivery--for substance abuse and mental health problems--to an approach designed to deliver services seamlessly to persons with comorbidity.  Alaska needs a high level of systemic competence in delivering these services due, in great part, to its climate (resulting in deaths of homeless comorbid persons), and to the requirements of its proposed systems changes.  The proposed project presents a unique opportunity for SAMHSA and its Centers to learn, first hand, how the transition from parallel systems to a seamless system of care can be accomplished in a small city in a rural/frontier State, and at what costs.  The project promises to yield learnings on the factors and circumstances that facilitate and/or retard systemic change in complex treatment systems. This "Anchorage Comorbidity Services" project is also part of SAMHSA's commitment to improving services, and relates directly to the resolution unanimously adopted by its National Advisory Council earlier this year.  Funding from CSAT and CMHS will support some services to persons with co-occurring disorders; continuing planning, review, management, and infrastructure development for the effort; and a tripartite evaluation of the project, including process, outcome, and impact evaluations.  This is a unique opportunity to evaluate significant change in a State system of care for persons with co-occurring disorders.
D000413:Alaska; D003156:Community Mental Health Services / Q000191:economics* / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D005380:Financing, Government / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D006801:Humans; D016730:Program Development / Q000191:economics; D014481:United States; D014482:United States Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration / Q000191:economics / Q000458:organization & administration*