Washington's Accountable Communities of Health Will Bolster Behavioral Health in Rural Communities Through $2 Million Investment from Cambia Health Solutions
by Elevate Health February 9, 2021
TACOMA, Wash. – Washington’s nine Accountable Communities of Health (ACHs) have received $2 million from Cambia Health Solutions to address urgent mental and behavioral health needs intensified by COVID-19 in rural communities. The funds will be distributed across the ACHs, and each organization will disperse the dollars based on needs in their region.
We’re honored to support the ACHs as they tackle the rising need for mental and behavioral health services across our communities. ACHs are trusted community-driven organizations and Cambia sees them as key partners to promote equity, foster resiliency and lift up community voice. We’re confident these investments will help break down the stigma surrounding mental health, improve access to behavioral support services, and support people in crisis or emotional distress.
— Peggy Maguire, Senior Vice President, Corporate Social Responsibility at Cambia Health Solutions.
Each ACH will use the funding for initiatives tailored to address needs in their rural communities. With the $250,000 in funds Elevate Health received, it will work in conjunction with emergency response services and mobile outreach intervention teams to connect rural communities in the Key Peninsula to community-based education and wellness services that reduce stigma, support stress management during the pandemic and facilitate crisis management.
“Cambia’s backing will help us continue to support behavioral health in rural Washington,” said Alisha Fehrenbacher, FACHE, Chief Executive Officer at Elevate Health, serving Pierce County. “Each of the nine ACHs is unique. We all share a commitment to community-driven, multi-sector solutions to improve the health and wellbeing of communities across Washington. These funds further enable the extension of support to our rural communities at a critical time.”
Cambia’s investment is part of a larger $11.5 million commitment to address rural mental health needs across Idaho, Oregon, Utah and Washington.
About Washington’s Accountable Communities of Health
Accountable Communities of Health are local partnerships that bring together health care payers and providers, public health, social services, community-based organizations, the justice system, schools, tribal partners, community members, and local government leaders to address health. ACHs seek to improve care, lower costs and strengthen communities.
ACHs are an integral part of the Washington’s Medicaid transformation efforts. There are nine ACHs covering the state, each serving a distinct region. Over the past four years, ACHs have led efforts to transform local healthcare systems connecting health care and social services, developing plans to support health across sectors, and investing millions of dollars with providers and community partners. For more information, please visit www.washingtonach.org.
About Cambia Health Solutions
Cambia Health Solutions, headquartered in Portland, Oregon, is dedicated to transforming health care. We put people at the heart of everything we do as we work to make the health care system more economically sustainable and efficient for people and their families. Our company reaches millions of
Americans nationwide, including more than 3.1 million people in the Pacific Northwest who are enrolled in our regional health plans. To learn more about us, visit CambiaHealth.com or Twitter.com/Cambia.
About Elevate Health
Elevate Health is an innovator, collaborator and driver in the creation of purposeful health care reform in Washington state. Working in partnership with community, governmental and health care stakeholders, we address the core challenges of inequitable health systems and practices. Challenges that include the creation of whole-person health models, expanding healthcare training opportunities, finding new avenues to support behavioral health services and pursuing innovative approaches to large scale crisis like the COVID-19 pandemic. We have molded our non-profit Accountable Communities of Health (ACH) model to one built on leading business practices, driven by current data trends and anchored by a separate funding arm, One Pierce. This measured approach allows Elevate Health to instigate profound health care transformation and to close health equity gaps in order to improve the health of all Pierce County residents.