Collaborative Bridges has published The Bridging the Gaps Issue Paper, which examines the growing national threat to Medicaid-funded behavioral health services and highlights Illinois' innovative response through its Healthcare Transformation Collaboratives. The paper warns of serious consequences for safety-net systems across the country against the backdrop of proposed federal reductions exceeding $1 trillion over ten years. Patrick Dombrowski, Executive Director of Collaborative Bridges, stated that the organization's goal in producing the paper was to bring clarity and urgency to a moment that demands both, noting that communities across Illinois are facing unprecedented uncertainty.
The issue paper documents how Collaborative Bridges, an Illinois Healthcare Transformation Collaborative founded in 2021, serves as a leading example of an integrated, equity-focused community care hub. Through partnerships with hospitals, health centers, behavioral health agencies, and justice-involved service providers, the organization has built a model that demonstrates both clinical effectiveness and financial sustainability. Key outcomes include a nine percent psychiatric readmission rate, compared to 33 percent nationally, and an estimated $3 million in annual Medicaid savings. The paper shows that when hospitals, community providers, and neighborhood partners come together with shared purpose, access to care can be preserved despite funding challenges.
Dombrowski emphasized that the model demonstrates how collaborative approaches can maintain essential services during periods of financial constraint. Collaborative Bridges represents a partnership of historic West Side Chicago safety net hospitals and community mental health agencies designed to ensure that care needs of people experiencing mental health and substance abuse issues are supported in their communities, especially after hospital admissions. The organization focuses on improving health equity in West Side communities and reducing gaps in care among disjointed service systems by creating continuity of care between hospitals and communities to place resources closer to those who need them when they need them.
The Bridging the Gaps Issue Paper is available in both summary and full versions, accessible for free at https://www.collaborativebridges.org. The organization is also launching its new Voices campaign, an ongoing series of conversations with community leaders across Chicago's West Side that captures firsthand reflections on challenges facing safety-net communities during this period of uncertainty. The paper serves as both a warning about the potential consequences of federal funding reductions and a demonstration of how collaborative models can provide sustainable solutions for maintaining essential behavioral health services in vulnerable communities.
