ODM Announces IHBT Grant Awardees

The Ohio Department of Medicaid (ODM), in partnership with the State of Ohio’s Child and Adolescent Behavioral Health Center of Excellence at Case Western Reserve University, (COE), is helping to launch and expand access to a critical mental health service in 59 counties, which results in 76 out of the 88 counties in Ohio having access to Intensive Home-Based Treatment (IHBT). ODM announced Tuesday that it authorized $10 million to support this service.

IHBT is an intensive, time-limited mental health service for youth with serious emotional disabilities and their families, provided in the home, school, and community where the youth live, with the goal of safely maintaining the youth in the least restrictive, most normative environment. IHBT involves an individual clinician or team of providers delivering a comprehensive set of clinical and rehabilitative services that are designed to intensively treat the young person’s mental health conditions that significantly impair their functioning – often kids who need IHBT face significant challenges in multiple areas of their lives, including school, home, and the community. Some young people who need IHBT are involved with or at risk of being involved with the juvenile justice and child protection systems.

Access to IHBT services is one element of a comprehensive and robust system of care, and is also one of the core services included in OhioRISE, the state’s transformative program aimed at helping children and youth with the most complex behavioral health challenges.

Each of the IHBT providers receiving grant funds have either already received IHBT certification or will work toward obtaining their IHBT certification through the Ohio Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services. A full list of awardees is available on the Center of Excellence’s website. The COE will provide training, technical assistance, consultation, program implementation support, fidelity monitoring, and evaluating the new services.