NM’s behavioral health administrator suggests lawmakers use better data to make decisions

Lawmakers recently heard arguments about how data can be used to improve behavioral health care across the state.

Falling Colors has managed New Mexico’s behavioral health system since 2017. This can include paperwork, customer service and claims processing.

And by the numbers, it does a good job. It pays providers on average in less than six days and rejects an average of just 7% of claims. According to a federal report, that’s less than half National average of 12.5% through comparable managed care organizations that provide general health care.

Company officials said New Mexico lawmakers could learn from their success.

Chief Operating Officer Sam Wolf told Health and Human Services Committee members that the key is having access to real-time data. He said this helps the company make quicker, more effective decisions that can benefit lawmakers.

“We provide data so that anyone who looks at it can see and understand what is happening with the funds spent,” he said. “We have given millions of dollars back to the agencies to spend on other programs.”

CEO Jorie Koster-Hale said data collection also helped the company effectively evaluate which behavioral health programs work best in different situations and for different groups of people, which then dictates where patients should go for the best results.

“Behavioral health care requires the ability to change and expand on the fly,” she said. “As anyone who has tried to launch a new program knows, it will inevitably require changes in process, data collection and even core objectives.”

She suggested state legislators draft legislation that would give them this type of data directly so they can make the same informed decisions in their committees and when drafting legislation.

Support for this reporting comes from the WK Kellogg Foundation and listeners like you.