About NACBH
 
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"NACBH is where the action is. If there is a major piece of legislation, NACBH is always on top of the issue and has some clout."
Richard Rickey
Cedar Crest Hospital & RTC
Belton, Texas
Join NACBH and become part of one of the most respected industry forces in Washington. When NACBH speaks for you, lawmakers listen. With NACBH's clout, you'll stand an excellent chance to make your case to appropriate lawmakers and staff.
This clout gives you more power to shape your destiny. Through NACBH, you'll be able to play a real part in the formulation of the policies and laws that affect how you are able to serve children and families.
NACBH has the intuition, passion and dedication to get the job done. When the Department of Defense tried to change the CHAMPUS reimbursement system to a cost-based system, NACBH lobbied successfully against the proposed change. Even more important, NACBH won approval of its own proposal -- an all-inclusive rate that protected residential treatment benefits under CHAMPUS.
 
When legislative and regulatory initiatives on the appropriate use of restraint and seclusion were mounting, NACBH countered the sensationalism of the issue with a reasoned and fair approach. Ultimately amending a rule which would have resulted in the unintended consequences of closing programs or failing to serve children, NACBH continues to position itself to take a leading role as implementation continues and future regulations are proposed.
 
 
 
 
"I'm learning more from NACBH than from any other national organization. It has the message I know I have to pay attention to. NACBH keeps me a step or two or three ahead of my competitors."
 
 
 
 
 
Twice each year, NACBH convenes its most distinctive gathering: at 2-day meetings in the Fall and 4-day meetings in the Spring, characterized by their collegiality and dynamism, on topics of critical interest to NACBH members. Prominent speakers from government and the private sector set the state for an information-rich learning experience that involves all those who attend. These meeting elicit intense levels of participation.
 
"These are not typical feel good sessions," one member told us. In fact, the objective is not to make participants comfortable, but to confront the controversial, look beyond today's horizons, and identify the dormant issues that will dog us tomorrow. We slam head-on into the economics, the politics, and the market-driving forces that affect our members and our industries.
 
We want you to know who is responsible for the latest initiatives in services and systems development, who deserves the credit, who needs to be taken to task.
 
It is through the commerce of ideas and the sharing of information that we, as individuals and an organization, are best prepared to respond to tomorrow's challenges.
 
 
 
 
". . . for-profits. . . non-profits. . . NACBH is a good blend of both worlds. Whenever I have a question, NACBH will connect me with another member who has confronted a similar situation."
 
Rosemarie Burton
Klingberg Family Centers
New Britain, Connecticut
Join NACBH and team up with an extraordinary group of leaders and innovators -- CEOs and administrators who are thriving in this era of change. You'll be part of a front-line organization that's big enough to advance the interests of at-risk children and families, even when it requires advocating against self-interest, yet small enough to permit NACBH's highly skilled staff to know each member's needs and concerns and provide fine-focused, individualized services.
 
NACBH members help each other chart successful courses, sharing recipes for success as well as invaluable tips on how to sidestep mistakes. Unlike members of most trade associations, NACBH members are colleagues, in addition to being competitors. Mutual interests transcend geography, organization size, and tax status. And all members benefit, whether 20-year veterans or brand new. NACBH staff connects members with the colleagues who can help the most on a given issue, any time -- all the time.
 
NACBH has an extensive network when it comes to children's mental health. And we'll connect you with the appropriate resource when you need it, target the right official at a federal agency, set up an appointment with a Member of Congress, determine which state agency has responsibility for an issue of concern.
 
The range of experience shared is as wide as the industry. Whether your concerns deal with public-private partnerships, network development, or case management, you'll find in-depth information and expertise within NACBH. Want to develop a specialty track for adolescent sex offenders? Need to develop a culturally-competent community board? NACBH members have answers.
 
 
 
 
"NACBH helps us focus. It helps us understand that bemoaning our situation after the fact is foolish. NACBH's perspective and information help us activate our grassroots. NACBH shows us how to get ahead and stay ahead.."
 
Chip Grono
Devereux Beneto Center
Malvern, Pennsylvania
Join NACBH and stay ahead of the changes and trends in our industry. Whether it's Medicaid or managed care, you'll get a heads-up that will make the most of opportunities. . . or avoid pitfalls.
 
For example, the Friday Facts is a comprehensive digest of current critical issues facing our industry. Faxed each week and posted on the web site, this information-dense briefing tells you what to prepare for, how to read between the lines, and how to analyze events surrounding issues of critical interest to you. We boil down dozens of documents and publications, then translate them into understandable English. You don't need to be a lawyer, physician or policy maker to understand the Friday Facts and put it to immediate use. NACBH members have long applauded its timeliness, focus and analysis of complex issues.
 
Here's just a hint of what we cover: new standards for managed behavioral health care, changes to Medicaid and the State Children's Health Insurance Program, opportunities to connect with other child-serving systems, outcome measurements, policy updates and much more. The Friday Facts also features executive positions available in organizations around the country and keeps the colleague-to-colleague exchange ongoing throughout the year.
 
NACBH also serves as a national resource or information clearinghouse for families, other mental health professionals, local government officials and the public. NACBH provides families with referrals to specialty programs, vital mental health data to policymakers, and national policy updates to local government officials.
 
 
 
 
"NACBH has always helped me with what is around the next bend -- managed care, juvenile justice issues, education. Actually, NACBH is at least a year ahead of everyone else."
 
Denis McCarville
Uta Halee Girls Village
Omaha, Nebraska
Unlike other organizations, NACBH essentially serves as a strategic consulting firm for its members. In many instances, this shortcuts the need for more costly professional services. In every situation, we will help you define the problem, review your alternatives, and when possible, help you develop a battle plan.
 
NACBH members have received time-saving, cost-cutting help on how to handle complex state licensing issues, deal with local zoning requirements, develop outcome measures to assess quality and effectiveness, create employee benefit packages.
 
Other members have discovered steps needed to develop public-private partnerships, develop community-based networks of services, or assess whether they should add another service line or specialty program.
 
NACBH is committed to developing an infrastructure of information from which values can be expressed and benchmarked, across state lines and bureaucracies, with the functional outcomes desired by clients, families and communities at its core.
 
RBTI will provide the data necessary to promote the public and private resources necessary to build meaningful systems of behavioral health care for children, youth and families, supported by nationally comparable data with common definitions of treatment settings, living environments, educational environments, functional outcomes, and community and family focus.
 
During Phase I (completed), NACBH: developed consensus on functional outcomes; produced shared data list including demographic, clinical and outcome data; created definitions for treatment settings and lists of living and educational environments, that transcend state systems, licensing categories and funding streams; designed data collection tool; conducted 20-member pilot; analyzed data; refined shared data list; refined data collection tool.
 
During Phase II (ongoing), NACBH will: Roll out RBTI to the full membership; members will export data electronically from existing management information systems or enter data manually through the internet-based data collection system. Develop consensus on measurement of client satisfaction and family and community focus; focus groups will be convened in various locations, to include clients, families, payers, clinicians, public system officials and other stakeholders. Design measurement tool for these remaining data elements, test with a pilot group, refine as needed and roll out to full membership.