Did You Know: There is mental healthcare available for Medicaid patients & the indigent in Collin County

If you know of someone here in Collin County who may need mental health or substance abuse care, Value Options NorthSTAR may be the answer. The program is a publicly funded, state-contracted behavioral health program that qualifies Medicaid patients -- and citizens living at 200-percent or below the Federal Poverty Level.

Despite being available here since 1999, county officials here 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 in recent years, enrollment in NorthSTAR here has steadily declined in the same timeframe.

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.

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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