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Louisiana's Coordinated System of Care


Act 1225 Regions selected by the CSoC Governance Board to be Phase 1 implementers:
Region 2
Region 7
Region 8
Region 9
Jefferson Parish
Notice: As of April 15, 2011, oversight of the Louisiana Coordinated System of Care (CSoC) will be conducted by the CSoC Governance Board, as established by Executuve Order BJ 2011 -5. The CSoC Leadership Team has ceased all meetings as the CSoC Governance Board convenes for the first time April 15, 2011.
The CSoC Governance Board shall henceforth oversee the implementation and administration of Louisiana's Coordinated System of Care. Please see the Louisiana Coordinated System of Care Executive Order creating the Governance Board for details. If you have any further questions concerning the transition please contact the CSoC helpdesk at csoc.helpdesk@la.gov
Technical Assistance for Communities intending to respond to Request for Applications

Webinar Documents and Videos
 Request for Applications
First Phase Implementation

Communities are invited to apply to become a first phase implementer of Louisiana's Coordinated System of Care.
Request for Applications Documents
Draft RFP for Statewide Management Organization

The purpose of this RFP is to solicit proposals from qualified Behavioral Health managed care organizations (BH-MCO) with a minimum of five years experience and demonstrated success in its provision of managed BH care services with complex, publicly-funded BH programs, to operate a pre-paid inpatient health plan (PIHP), as defined in 42 CFR 438.2, for BH services provided to children, youth, and adults.

Behavioral Health Services Public Notice
RFP for Statewide Management Organization for LA Behavioral Health Partnership

State Plan Amendments Submitted

On March 10, 2011, State Plan amendments and home and community-based services waiver applications for the implementation of CSoC were submitted to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services for review and approval. Download copies of these documents from the Department of Health and Hospital website.

Interested persons may submit written comments to Medicaid by sending email to Medicaid.CSOC@la.gov. All feedback and comments are welcomed and will be reviewed and considered.
CSoC Questions and Answers

Questions and Answers (posted 05.09.11)


The state of Louisiana is undertaking the development of a statewide coordinated system of care (CSoC) for Louisiana's at risk children and youth with significant behavioral health challenges or co-occurring disorders. The CSoC project is an initiative of Governor Jindal and is being led by executives of the Office of Juvenile Justice, the Department of Children & Family Services, the Department of Health and Hospitals, and the Department of Education.

The CSoC is an evidence-based approach that is part of a national movement to develop family driven and youth-guided care, keep children at home, in school, and out of the child welfare and juvenile justice systems.

A system of care:
  • incorporates a broad, flexible array of effective services and supports for a defined population
  • is organized into a coordinated network
  • integrates care planning and management across multiple levels
  • is culturally and linguistically competent
  • builds meaningful partnerships with families and youth at service delivery, management, and policy levels
  • has supportive policy and management infrastructure.

An important CSoC goal is the reduction of costly, highly restrictive out of home placements through the creation and maintenance of coordinated and effective community based services. CSoCs also create partnerships with public and private providers of services that target children, youth and their families in a multi-agency, multi-disciplinary system of services.

Recent estimates indicate the following percentages of these youth in Louisiana need behavioral health services:
  • 40% of those placed in Office of Community Services (OCS) foster homes
  • 70% of those in Office of Juvenile Justice (OJJ) out of home placements
  • 20% of children and parents served in their home by OCS
  • 50% of children and parents served in their home by OJJ

It is widely acknowledged that the needs of these children and families are currently being served through a fragmented service delivery model that is not well coordinated, is many times inadequate to meet the families' needs and is usually difficult to navigate. Further, state departments are not currently pooling resources and leveraging the 'smartest' financing to provide a coordinated system of behavioral health services to this population. This too often results in Louisiana's children with the highest level of need often detained in secure or residential settings, which are proven the highest cost services with the poorest outcomes.

CSoC efforts have been shown to provide solutions to common problems found in states and communities throughout the nation, including:
  • Lack of home and community-based services and supports
  • Patterns of utilization - racial/ethnic disparity and disproportionality
  • High cost
  • Administrative inefficiencies
  • Poor outcomes
  • Rigid financing structures
  • Deficit-based/medical models, limited types of interventions
(Source: Pires, S. (1996). Human Service Collaborative, Washington, D.C.)


Goals, Values and Population of Focus

In a recent planning retreat, over forty agency and stakeholder leaders agreed as follows on the goals, values and population of focus for the  Louisiana Coordinated System of Care.

Values and Principles:
  • Family-driven and youth-guided
  • Home and community based
  • Strength-based and individualized
  • Culturally and linguistically competent
  • Integrated across systems
  • Connected to natural helping networks
  • Data-driven, outcomes oriented

Population of Focus:
Louisiana's Coordinated System of Care will initially serve children and youth that have significant behavioral health challenges or co-occurring disorders that are in or at imminent risk of out of home placement. Out of home placements are defined as the following:
  • Detention
  • Secure Care facilities
  • Psychiatric hospitals
  • Residential treatment facilities
  • Development disabilities facilities
  • Addiction facilities
  • Alternative schools
  • Homeless as identified by DOE
  • Foster care

Goals of System of Care Implementation include:
  • Reduction in the current number and future admissions of children and youth with significant behavioral health challenges or co-occurring disorders in out of home placements.
  • Reduction of the state's cost of providing services by leveraging Medicaid and other funding sources as well as increasing service effectiveness and efficiency  and reducing duplication across agencies.
  • Improving the overall outcomes of these children and their caretakers being served by the coordinated system of care.
 
Organization of the System of Care oversight and planning process:
The initiative is directed and overseen by the CSoC Leadership Team. The Leadership Team receives and acts on recommendations developed and submitted by a Planning Group regarding system design and implementation strategy. The Leadership Team is staffed by the Project Manager and assures departmental staff and external stakeholders work jointly in planning the Coordinated System of Care. The Leadership Team makes consensus-based decisions and is composed of the following individuals:
  • Secretary Ruth Johnson, DCFS
  • Deputy Secretary Kathy Kliebert , DHH
  • Secretary Mary Livers, OJJ
  • Assistant Superintendent Donna Nola Ganey, DOE
  • Deputy Medicaid Director, Randy Davidson, DHH
  • Assistant Chief of Staff Tammy Woods and Policy Advisor Camille Conaway, Governor's Office
  • Vee Boyd, parent, and Executive Director, Louisiana's Federation of Families for Children's Mental Health
  • Sharon Dufrene, parent and advocate
  • Michael Teague, Executive Director, Jefferson Parish Human Services Authority
  • Representative of Supreme Court

Planning Group
The planning for the system design and development work of the initiative is being conducted by the Planning Group. As stated above, the Planning Group works at the direction of the Leadership Team and is facilitated by the Project Manager. The Planning Group is responsible for developing recommendations for submission to the Leadership Group. The Planning Group is composed of agency key staff and external stakeholders, including family members, advocates, and providers. The Planning Group will form workgroups as needed to perform activities necessary to meet the goals and timeline of the project workplan; workgroups may be time-limited to accomplish specified planning tasks and objectives and include broader representation than formal Planning Group members.


For more information about the CSoC initiative, please contact
Jody Levison-Johnson, Project Manager, at 225-342-5921 or jody.levison@la.gov.



Current workgroups:

Previous Workgroups:
Documents: