Team Members
- Deceil Moore, LCSW
- Matthew Spitzmueller, PhD, LCSW
- Lynn Warner, PhD, MSW, MPP
Research Project Description
Ensuring that rural behavioral health providers can survive and flourish in a changing health care system is critical to building equitable and sustainable systems of care. Rural behavioral health services target a population that is uniquely vulnerable, costly to serve, and difficult to reach. When behavioral health systems do not effectively engage this population, health disparities worsen and untreated illnesses put added pressure on high-cost systems, such as hospitals. This project proposes to explore the opportunities and barriers rural behavioral health organizations experience as they implement health care payment and delivery reform, the adaptations these organizations develop to overcome these barriers, and the impact those adaptations have on accessibility and culturally competent care. The findings from this project will be used by behavioral health and social service organization leaders in rural areas of New York to share best practices as well as county and state government officials to continuously reform the behavioral health service system.
Team Members
Deceil Moore, LCSW
Deceil Moore is a licensed clinical social worker who has worked in rural communities since 1987. She has broad based behavioral health experience including 17 years of direct practice with a wide variety of individuals as well as clinical and administrative supervision/management and training on local, state, and national levels.
Matthew Spitzmueller, PhD, LCSW
Matthew Spitzmueller is an Assistant Professor in the School of Social Work at Syracuse University. His research examines behavioral health policy reform and its implementation in organizations. He seeks to understand the role organizations play in shaping policy, and what their practices mean for socially and economically vulnerable people.
Lynn Warner, PhD, MSW, MPP
Lynn Warner is Dean and Professor at the School of Social Welfare, University at Albany – SUNY. Her research focuses on disparities in the delivery of mental and behavioral health services, especially disparities experienced by groups who are vulnerable because of low-income status or age, and who are racial or ethnic minorities.
Issue Brief: Upstate New York
Measuring the Performance of Behavioral Health Services in the Age of Value-Based Payment
