The Alaska Behavioral Health Association (ABHA) is excited to unveil the Behavioral Health Investment for Resilient Community Health (BIRCH) model for behavioral health system change. Our belief is that behavioral healthcare is a vital and equal part of the healthcare system and when it is accepted as a primary aspect of healthcare all Alaskans will benefit.

Consistent with ABHA’s Vision to “advance and elevate the role of behavioral health and whole person care so all Alaskans can thrive”, ABHA offers these suggestions to improve the accessibility of services, reduce administrative burdens, and work toward an equitable healthcare system for behavioral health services.

The BIRCH model for system change outlines first step actionable items that all members of the system can take. We believe these ideas will foster a stable and innovative behavioral health system that can focus on sophisticated, evidenced based, whole person care. The main points of this first step system change are:

• Investment in Community Behavioral Health;

• Behavioral health as primary care, including parity and streamlining access;

• Connecting people to care when, and where they need it, with improvements in care coordination and school based Medicaid reform; and

• Strengthening and growing our workforce

We invite you to spend some time reviewing the BIRCH Model below to track the Association’s efforts to stand-up the model.