Did
You Know:
Mental Healthcare and Drug
Treatment
are available
for qualified Collin County residents
Let’s cut right to the heart of the matter: If you or
someone you know needs mental healthcare or substance abuse
treatment, we want to help you find it. Collin County’s Substance
Abuse Program staff has recently joined in efforts to refer
qualified residents here to the proper care and treatment
programs and providers.
For starters, Value
Options NorthSTAR just may provide exactly what’s needed.
The publicly funded, state-contracted behavioral health program
qualifies Medicaid patients -- and citizens living at 200-percent
or below the Federal
Poverty Level – and then can point them to doctors
and treatment centers in our area.
Despite being available
since 1999, Collin County officials are concerned that residents
who may need treatment aren’t
aware of what the program has to offer. In fact, while the
county’s
population has continued to grow at a phenomenal rate in recent
years, enrollment in NorthSTAR here has steadily declined
in the same timeframe.
Collin County Substance Abuse: |
972-548-5570 (McKinney) or
972-424-1460 ext. 5570 (Metro) |
NorthSTAR Customer Service: |
1-888-800-6799 (TDD 1-888-800-6792) |
Mental Health Crisis Hotline: |
1-866-260-8000 |
More than 3,600 people enrolled in NorthSTAR in Collin County
received just over $10.4 million last year in services, at
an average cost of about $2,899 for each patient, according to
NorthSTAR figures. Collin County makes up about 20 percent of
the seven-county region administered by NorthSTAR, but residents
here have used only about 8 percent of the overall $130.2 million
in services authorized through NorthSTAR this fiscal year.
That
translates into a substantial amount of treatment program
services and medication assistance available to qualified
county residents.
NorthSTAR is overseen by The
North Texas Behavioral Health Authority (NTBHA), the Local
Behavioral Health Authority for Collin, Dallas, Ellis, Hunt,
Kaufman, Navarro and Rockwall Counties. NTBHA was created
by the Commissioners Courts of each of the seven counties
to oversee the managed behavioral (mental health and chemical
dependency) healthcare service delivery system which serves
people in the NorthSTAR Region.
For more information and a
complete listing on services – which
include residential, outpatient and specialty programs, please
visit the Value
Options NorthSTAR website, or call the county’s Substance
Abuse Program at the number listed above.
If you need
to enroll yourself or a family member with NorthSTAR, the
Customer Service contact number is 1-888-800-6799 (TDD 1-888-800-6792),
where you can get a choice of providers and, depending on
the situation, the Value Options staff members can transfer
you to a Clinical Care Manager to assist you with access
to services.
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