Encompass Community Services Partners With Greenspace Health to Help Drive Program Equity for All Clients

Implementation of Measurement-Based Care solution will ensure that the client voice is at the heart of the organization’s behavioral health services

SANTA CRUZ, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Today, Greenspace Health and Encompass Community Services, the largest community-based provider of health and human services in Santa Cruz County, announced that Encompass will work with Greenspace to enhance its behavioral health service offerings through the implementation of Measurement-Based Care (MBC). This innovative approach to care delivery follows a key CalAIM priority to ensure a more client-centered care process, and will further solidify Encompass' commitment to increasing the equity of its services to help all clients have similar opportunities to improve in care.

Evidence shows that a person’s background, support from family or community and education surrounding mental health treatment can have a significant impact on their experience in care. These factors can play a major role in a person's ability to communicate their needs and experiences in care, advocate for themselves, and ultimately benefit from their treatment. Over 95% of Encompass clients are Medi-Cal beneficiaries, among them, 57% are BIPOC. Encompass’ MBC implementation will provide clients with transparent access to their outcome data to help ensure that each client is able to communicate their needs and experiences with their provider and that their voice is prioritized throughout the care process, regardless of their background and baseline comfort discussing mental health. Encompass believes that empowering clients with the knowledge and tools to better communicate with their provider is fundamental to delivering equitable and culturally sensitive services.

Greenspace Health’s platform helps providers, organizations and health care systems use a data-informed approach to guide treatment decisions and achieve better clinical outcomes through:

• Increased client engagement
• Improved provider-client communication and therapeutic alliance
• Earlier detection of symptom/health changes
• Enhanced coordination of care between multiple providers
• Real-time evaluation of program outcomes and efficacy

“At Encompass, we believe that the benefit of good health should be equitable for all of the individuals we support,” said Lisa Russell, Chief Program Officer, Encompass Community Services. “As we work hard every day to achieve health equity throughout our services, it is vital to have the client voice at the center of their care process. By partnering with Greenspace, we are able to get data in real-time for both our providers and their clients, which allows us to improve client-provider communication and inform treatment decisions, which is a real game-changer to help us improve overall outcomes and equity in care.”

“When clients and providers work together using Measurement-Based Care, the evidence consistently shows that clients experience better outcomes in care and see improved therapeutic alliance with their provider,” said Simon Weisz, President, Greenspace Health. “We look forward to working with Encompass to help them achieve their goals to improve overall outcomes and health equity.

Funding for this project was generously provided by the City of Santa Cruz and the County of Santa Cruz to improve access to high-quality, effective, and culturally responsive behavioral health services.

To learn more about Measurement-Based Care, please visit greenspacehealth.com.

ABOUT GREENSPACE HEALTH

Greenspace transforms mental health services by improving the way that mental healthcare is accessed, measured and delivered. Their Measurement Platform enables mental health providers and organizations to implement consistent, evidence-based measurement (often referred to as routine client-reported outcome measures or PROMs) into their practice. This model is proven to significantly impact client results while generating valuable data for organizations to improve care. Greenspace’s Measurement-Based Care solutions have been implemented across community and private clinics, hospitals and healthcare systems, improving the client experience and driving better-coordinated care and outcomes. To learn more about Measurement-Based Care (MBC), please visit www.greenspacehealth.com.

ABOUT ENCOMPASS COMMUNITY SERVICES

Encompass Community Services is the largest community-based provider of health and human services in Santa Cruz County. The agency has been delivering culturally appropriate and evidence-based safety net services to the community for 50 years and operates nearly 40 programs — from early childhood education, school readiness and youth mental health therapy programs to residential and outpatient substance use disorder treatment, mental health therapy, housing support, and more. As a health equity organization, Encompass is committed to providing everyone in Santa Cruz County with access to the high-quality services they need and deserve to enjoy the benefit of a long, healthy life. Encompass is over 90% publicly funded, with an annual budget of $35M. For more information, please visit www.encompasscs.org.