Since 2013, The Kennedy Forum (TKF) has led a national effort to transform the way mental health and substance use disorder are treated in our health care system. Now in our tenth year,we have set our strategic focus on shepherding an inclusive movement to ensure every person in the United States has access to the mental health and substance use treatment services and supports they need. TKF has leveraged our unique role to coalesce a growing set of partners to advance the next generation of mental health and substance use disorder policy.
Launched in 2023, the Alignment for Progress entails the large-scale coordination of a strategic vision uniting stakeholders across aisle and industry—including mental health advocates, substance use and recovery clinicians and advocates, business leaders, insurers, politicians, and government agencies.
Made possible in part by the support of our generous event sponsors, the launch event included two days of sessions which highlighted key issues, the challenges before us, and the work of many partner organizations and those who have made commitments to the movement.
The Alignment for Progress will require community engagement at all levels: being as specific as looking at zip-code level data and as broad as mapping the national systems that impact every person in the country to determine the landscape of need and to develop solutions directed at those needs.
Movement Goals: 90 – 90 – 90 by 2033
Our ten-year goals for the movement are:
- 90% of individuals being screened for mental health conditions or substance use disorders;
- 90% receiving the evidence-based services and supports they need, and,
- 90% of those treated being able to manage their symptoms and achieve recovery.
This vision will be achieved by aligning a movement that ensures parity in resources, access, quality, and outcomes, including:
- Adopting a public health approach with a focus on prevention and early intervention.
- Ensuring a sufficient and comprehensive payment model that drives these outcomes.
- Supporting a skilled and inclusive workforce equipped to address the needs of diverse communities.
- Accelerating innovation to make high-quality care affordable to all.
Reaching these goals will be the work of the entire community of mental health and substance use disorder actors: non-profits, industry, advocates, providers, government, venture capitalists and philanthropists, and those with lived experience.
Commitments
At the Alignment for Progress launch event, we proudly presented commitments made by diverse stakeholders to advance the A4P Movement.
We invite your organization to make a commitment today! To do so, please send The Kennedy Forum one goal that your organization is working towards, which we can publicly elevate and disseminate through our Alignment for Progress communication channels. You can select a goal from your strategic plan or other organizational guiding documents that will drive meaningful change within the MH/SUD system. When possible, SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time-bound) goals are preferred. This should be something that you aim to accomplish over the next five years.
Please contact Kate.Clark@TheKennedyForum.org with any questions. You can submit a commitment here.
Tools to Drive the Movement
With partners, we’ve created three important tools that members of the community will be able to leverage to help us move toward achievement of 90/90/90 by 2033.
The National Strategy for Mental Health and Substance Use is the first ever digital compilation of federal policy recommendations designed to transform our mental health and substance use case system. It focuses on all major areas affecting Americans’ mental health, such as health coverage, the delivery system, youth mental health, community supports, the criminal legal system, and social determinants of health. There are currently more than 220 recommendations, and expect it will grow as the community provides feedback. Find a policy recommendation to champion here.
In partnership with McKinsey Health Institute, we present our mental health and addiction systems map. This systems map is an open access, virtual, interactive tool designed to help you think holistically about critical issues related to the mental health and substance use care delivery system in our country. Explore the map here (you will be asked to complete a brief form first) to deepen your understanding of current stakeholders and identify potential opportunities for activating new partners or engaging stakeholders differently.
KPMG and The Kennedy Forum partnered to create a ZIP code level mapping tool which offers visualizations of claims data around mental health and substance use care across the country. The tool uses many different data sources to develop visualizations that will help you:
• Understand the incidence of mental health and substance use across counties and ZIP code;
• Identify service deserts/gaps to determine where additional healthcare resources should be allocated;
• See usage of different treatment methods across states and counties.
We encourage you to use this tool to think through policy implications, future allocations of resources in by geographic areas and also sets a bar for where additional growth and investment in data collection and validation are needed. Click here to dive in (email authentication is required).
Other Resources
We also recommend reviewing these key resources from our partner organizations:
The Mental Health Index from One Mind at Work provides a data-driven assessment and generates strategic guidance for improvement in 10 key organizational categories that are foundational and closely linked to workforce mental health.
The National Council for Mental Wellbeing presents CCBHCs: A Vision for the Future of Community Behavioral Health Care. Download to learn how the CCBHC model can be leveraged by clinics, policymakers, partner organizations, and the private sector to re-think access to mental health and substance use treatment and care in America.
