As we all know, the lack of available public housing resources is literally a crisis in itself that amplifies the ability for our consumers to make legitimate progress. While I 100% agree that private providers should not be attempting to deal with this crisis using Medicaid funding, there should be some true resources available to deal with the nationwide housing crisis. It was noted during the Youtube training video that the MCO's should be informed about housing difficulties as they have "available resources" to help and this simply is not the case by any stretch of the imagination. If even a single legitimate and effective housing resource can be provided by DMAS, DBHDS, or anyone at the MCO's I will make it a personal mission of mine to share this with the population we serve, professionals who may be less connected to state information, and other individuals in the community who are passionate about legitimately helping those in the state of Virginia.

Do note that while there may be quite a few additional Medicaid funded services integrated with BRAVO to support our consumers, the chances of them being utilized are slim to none if they are not having their most basic foundational needs such as housing, physical safety, and food met. Their chances of cycling in and out of community based and residential crisis services remains extremely high no matter how helpful/available these mental health services are.

Please keep this in mind and attempt to allocate additional services and funds that towards this crisis to prevent even more state-wide deterioration and poor statistical outcomes in the future.

All of the hard work that was done to revamp the Medicaid funded services in the state of Virginia that seemed initially designed to provide additional access to consumers and positive outcomes should not go to waste. Do note that the recent trends and data were observed/obtained after only a few short months of information that came during the ending Covid-19 crisis that was obviously an additional stressor for all parties involved from consumers to congress.