Coordinated specialty care (CSC) is a recovery-oriented, team-based treatment model that provides evidence-based services for people with first-episode psychosis (
1–
7). CSC seeks to intervene early and improve symptoms, social functioning, and quality of life (
4,
5). In the United States, most CSC programs receive some funding through the Community Mental Health Services Block Grant (MHBG) set-aside program for first-episode psychosis (
1,
8). The state mental health authority (SMHA) in each state or territory is responsible for administering the MHBG set-aside funds to CSC programs. SMHAs are state governmental agencies designed to ensure the delivery of services to individuals with mental health conditions (
9). Typically, SMHAs coordinate and directly operate mental health services (e.g., direct psychiatric treatment and supports for housing, employment, and education) and allocate funds to community providers for mental health services not provided by the SMHA. SMHAs vary widely in how they are organized, staffed, and managed within state governments (
8–
10).
Since 2014, SMHAs have administered the MHBG set-aside funds for first-episode psychosis (
8,
11). In fiscal years 2014 and 2015, Congress directed each state to set aside 5% of its MHBG dollars to support evidence-based programs for individuals with serious mental illness, including psychotic disorders. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), which administers the MHBG, provided guidance to states to encourage a focus on effective treatment for early psychosis, with particular emphasis on CSC (
1). In 2016–2020, SAMHSA directed states to increase their investment in CSC by setting aside 10% of their MHBG funds. The law that funds the MHBG was amended to provide states with a supplement to cover the cost of the required 10% set-aside (
9).
SMHAs take a variety of approaches to administering the MHBG set-aside funds. For example, SMHAs in Maryland, New York, Ohio, and Oregon work closely with academic institutions to implement CSC programs (
8,
12). In contrast, other states contract with third parties to manage the distribution of funding and oversight (
13). In 2015, a study of 12 state administrators of the MHBG set-aside funds found differences in how involved and prescriptive SMHAs were in determining the CSC model selected, the programs’ target populations, training needs, and use of funds (
10); however, strong state guidance remained one of the facilitating factors for implementing CSC via use of the set-aside funds (
10).
The literature on mental health systems change documents the importance of SMHA involvement for implementing evidence-based practices (EBPs) (
14–
19). When SMHAs administer funding but have little involvement in the implementation process, broad adoption of the practice is often limited (
16–
19). When SMHAs do not actively promote or engage in decision making around implementing EBPs, recruiting participating clinics is often more difficult and clinic staff turnover is higher (
20). However, little is known about how state-level involvement is related to individual client outcomes. Specifically for CSC, it remains unclear whether the level of SMHA involvement with the set-aside–funded CSC programs predicts the success of these programs or plays a role in the lives of clients served.
Results
The indicators of SMHA involvement with CSC programs exhibited variability (
Table 1). SMHA involvement ranged from 1 to 5 (mean=2.9).
Table 2 presents client change scores, in terms of average change (difference between final assessment score and baseline assessment score), for each level of SMHA involvement. In general, the higher the level of SMHA involvement, the larger was the magnitude of the change scores (reflecting positive change).
Table 3 lists the regression coefficients of the SMHA score for the levels of involvement. The model’s first level (score of 1) was used as the reference group for the four models. The regression coefficients of the control variables for each model are not shown. Each of the four groups (SMHA scores of 2–5) were compared with SMHAs that scored 1 on the involvement scale. As shown in the table, clients in CSC programs with SMHAs that were the most involved (level 5) had significantly lower final assessment CSI scores, compared with clients at clinics with SMHA level 1 involvement (β=−3.65, p=0.036), indicating a larger reduction in symptoms for clients at clinics with greater SMHA involvement. Similarly, clients at clinics with SMHA level 5 involvement had significantly higher Global Functioning: Social and Role Scale scores, compared with clients at clinics with SMHA level 1 involvement (β
social=1.32, p<0.001; β
role=1.13, p=0.019), indicating larger improvements in social and role functioning of clients served at clinics with greater SMHA involvement.
Even when the analysis controlled for demographic variables and PS, the most involved SMHAs, scoring a 5, were associated with clients who had the largest improvements in terms of symptoms, social functioning, and role functioning. For the quality-of-life measure, clients at clinics with SMHA level 2 involvement were also found to have higher scores than clients at clinics with SMHA level 1 involvement, although the difference showed only a trend toward statistical significance (β=0.55, p=0.056).
Discussion
Our results are consistent with those of previous studies (
16–
20,
31–
33) and emphasize the importance of SMHA involvement for implementing EBPs. In our study, SMHA involvement was characterized as frequent communication with CSC programs, involvement in hiring and training of CSC staff, and involvement in decision making about CSC program delivery. Increased SMHA involvement predicted positive client outcomes in CSC programs. This trend was true for multiple client outcomes, including improved symptoms, role functioning, social functioning, and quality of life, although improvement in quality of life showed only a trend toward significance.
Previous studies have shown that SMHAs with more involvement and stronger relationships with providers and clinics experience more success in statewide implementation of EBPs (
17,
18,
20,
31–
33) and sustainability of EBPs (
18). A study of eight SMHAs and their role in implementing EBPs found that the most successful states had SMHAs that not only understood the components of services being offered but also directed staff members on how to implement service components (
17).
Unlike in other situations where SMHAs initiate and implement EBPs within their state to address a particular need, in this study every SMHA was required to administer the funding for the MHBG set-aside. One could argue that the administration of the MHBG set-aside funding was thrust upon SMHAs, and some knew little about first-episode psychosis. Additionally, CSC itself is relatively new in the United States, compared with other countries (
1,
28). The earliest U.S. programs date back to 2000 (
28). CSC models and CSC service components vary across the United States. Although states such as New York, Oregon, and Washington have adopted a single programmatic model for implementing CSC, most states have not (
28). In a recent study of CSC implementation in California, programs across 58 counties implemented different versions of CSC, with varying service components, and in some cases, programs differed within the same county (
34). In a study of 12 states, Horvitz-Lennon and colleagues (
10) noted that although the MHBG set-aside funding for CSC was part of a legislative initiative, SMHAs did not have guidance about how much programmatic involvement they should have, which strategies they should use to implement CSC, or how they should administer the funds. As such, states varied widely in terms of their involvement in prescribing CSC implementation (
10).
Despite the diversity among CSC programs and state contextual factors, in our sample of 34 programs across 21 states and one U.S. territory, greater SMHA involvement predicted better client outcomes. This trend held true even after the analysis was controlled for important predictors, such as baseline assessment scores, client-level demographic variables, and site-level covariates. We note that we do not believe that the relationship between SMHA involvement and client outcomes is linear, nor does the study support a causal hypothesis. Indeed, moderate levels of SMHA involvement did not necessarily predict better client outcomes, compared with low levels of SMHA involvement. Only the highest ratings of SMHA involvement predicted positive client outcomes.
Many alternative hypotheses might explain our findings because we could not measure all the potentially relevant features of the participating sites. For example, SMHAs that are most involved may specify stricter enrollment criteria to their CSC study sites, which may lead to better outcomes because the programs have fewer clients with co-occurring and complicating conditions. Another factor may be the overall CSC program budgets, because funding may be a powerful predictor of client outcomes. We were not able to assess either of these factors.
Another possible explanation for the findings may be that states with a long history of CSC implementation may have more involved SMHAs. In our study, nine CSC programs across five states reported that they provided CSC services before the availability of the 2014 MHBG set-aside funding. In our small sample, having an older program within the state did not indicate that the SMHA was more involved, and among the five states with programs initiated before 2014, only one SMHA received the highest rating of 5. One SMHA received a score of 3, one received a score of 4, and two received a score of 2.
Additionally, the involvement of a CSC Resource Center or of academic institutions with CSC expertise might explain the study findings. Although we did not directly test this hypothesis, seven SMHAs reported that they worked closely with a third party (a CSC Resource Center, academic institution, or managed care company) that managed and trained CSC staff members. Only one of these SMHAs received a rating of 5 (highest), one received a rating of 4, two received a rating of 3, two received a rating of 2, and one received a rating of 1. We did not have enough information to fully explore how this relationship may have influenced outcomes.
These findings are exploratory, because the study had several limitations. The CSC programs included in our study were chosen, in part, because of their reputation for providing good CSC care, which could have led to a biased estimate of the effect of SMHA involvement. However, enough variability existed in the data on outcomes and involvement to reveal a relationship. Our sample may not be representative of all CSC programs in the United States. Also, the inclusion of select CSC programs within each state and not the full array of CSC programs in the state may have limited the range of client outcomes, because some programs included in this study may have had better outcomes than other programs in the state.
Although we controlled for several site-level variables, the nature of the study and the number of study sites limited our ability to assess other variables that might be equally indicative of SMHA involvement or predictive of outcomes. For example, SMHA knowledge about and experience with CSC may explain how involved SMHAs are with CSC programs; however, we did not assess this variable. Additionally, we note that only one researcher on the study team rated the presence or absence of each factor by using interview transcripts; thus, these assessments could have been biased. Finally, follow-up information was not included in the analyses to further understand processes. For example, seven (32%) of the SMHAs reported involvement in the hiring of CSC staff members, but we did not have information about the extent of their involvement (e.g., reviewing resumes or participating in interviews). Additional detail could have helped us understand which SMHA activities drove the findings.