The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) www.samhsa.gov and USDA www.usda.gov have signed an interagency agreement to provide information on new behavioral healthcare capabilities in the U.S. especially in underserved communities.
The agencies will collaborate with regional, state, and local public service organizations to gather, analyze, and share data related to a wide range of mental and substance use disorder issues.
The interagency agreement will draw upon USDA’s nationwide network of over 925 cooperative extension sites with substantial availability not only of data but also the ability to share information. Having access to this data at USDA will enable others to better understand how to collect and share behavioral healthcare data in communities.
Through a USDA grant with Michigan State University, information will be collected and provided to SAMHSA and USDA on:
- All of the existing behavioral health surveillance systems in place
- The types of data needed that would be most helpful to communities
- All of the existing partners in the communities
- How partners are working together to gather behavioral health data
- How much data is needed to help meet a community’s behavioral health needs
After all of the data is collected, SAMHSA will use the information to help improve immediate and long-term capabilities in terms of gathering and sharing behavioral health information, how to upgrade systems for tracking behavioral health trends, and how to improve the ability of systems to better respond to acute needs such as in the case of emergencies.