Optum Idaho donates $200k to training program

Optum Idaho, a managed care organization for the state’s Medicaid behavioral health plan, has donated $200,000 toward work to expand mental health and substance use disorder resource access through Project ECHO.

Project ECHO, which stands for Extension for Community Health Outcomes, provides training for medical professionals and social workers looking to improve their skills.

The program is housed through a partnership with the WWAMI medical education program at the University of Idaho.

The donation is in addition to a $200,000 grant from Optum Idaho announced in December of 2021 to support and sustain ECHO’s development of behavioral health training materials, fees, and virtual mental health and addiction treatment training for providers.

According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 100% of Idaho is designated as a mental health provider shortage area.

Optum Idaho stated in a news release that because behavioral health providers are so limited, many Idaho patients rely on primary care providers for mental health care. But not all primary care providers are well-versed in behavioral health.

ECHO’s longest-running training program is Behavioral Health in Primary Care, which is focused on improving primary care providers’ skills in diagnosis and treatment of mental health and substance use disorders.

ECHO Idaho currently offers eight free, virtual series for Idaho health care providers on topics including opioids, chronic pain, hepatitis, pediatric autism and COVID-19.

ECHO Idaho Interim Director Katy Palmer said although there was already a demand for more behavioral health care when ECHO started in 2018, that demand increased drastically with COVID-19 and led to waitlists for both specialty and primary care providers.

“While that is concerning, we are aligned with many partners that strive to improve those conditions in the Gem State and Optum Idaho is a prominent one,” she said.

Amanda Holcomb, a licensed medical social worker at Syringa Hospital in Grangeville, says she attends ECHO’s Behavioral Health in Primary Care series and the Counseling Techniques for Substance Use Disorder series, which she uses in her day-to-day practice.

“I really appreciate the network of professionals I can connect with through these sessions to better help and understand the patients that I serve,” she said.

Dr. Andy Bradbury at the Rexburg Free Clinic in Rexburg said talking to specialists across the state helps him stay up-to-date on best practices while serving a rural community.

“That advice and guidance provide me with perspective, reinforces some of my own practices and helps keep me in line with evidence-based medicine,” he said.

Optum Idaho Chief Medical Officer Dr. Julie Wood said the interdisciplinary training sessions provide cross-training in behavioral health screening, diagnoses and treatment.

“The knowledge gained in these sessions empowers providers to feel more comfortable addressing the complexities of mental health, understanding the interplay of physical and mental health, and ultimately improves the overall health of individuals across Idaho,” Wood said.

Optum Idaho currently provides outpatient behavioral health treatment for more than 400,000 Medicaid members through a network of roughly 2,000 clinicians across the state through a partnership with the state Division of Medicaid.

Sun may be contacted at rsun@lmtribune.com or on Twitter at @Rachel_M_Sun. This report is made possible by the Lewis-Clark Valley Healthcare Foundation in partnership with Northwest Public Broadcasting, the Lewiston Tribune and the Moscow-Pullman Daily News.