CSoC: Does it Work?

The Louisiana Coordinated System of Care (CSoC) began March 1, 2012. CSoC continues to help children and youth ages 5-20 years old who have serious mental health and substance use challenges and are in or at risk of out-of-home placement. It offers services and supports that help these youth return to or remain at home while they are being helped.

At inception, the goals of CSoC included:

• Reducing state’s costs by leveraging Medicaid and other funding sources as well as increasing service effectiveness and reducing duplication across agencies
• Reducing out-of-home placement for children currently in placement and future admissions of children and youth with significant behavioral health challenges and co-occurring disorders
• Improving the overall outcomes of children and their caregivers

During the past eight years, more than 18,000 children have been enrolled in the Louisiana Coordinated System of Care. The goals for CSoC are continuously met and positive outcomes are being achieved on average in less than a year for children enrolled in CSoC.

Decreased utilization of costly restrictive settings

• Only 4.9% of the children enrolled in CSoC spent any days in an inpatient hospital setting, with an average length of stay of only 6 days.
• 91% of CSoC children are seen by an outpatient provider within 7 days of discharge from an inpatient hospital.

Keeping children in their communities

CSoC connects youth and family members to behavioral health services in their homes and communities that offer low-cost alternatives to prevent institutional care:

• 100% of CSoC children are enrolled with a Wraparound agency providing intensive care coordination in a single plan of care.
• 98.1% of members reported they are receiving services in the type, amount, duration, and frequency specified on their plan of care.
• 86.4% of youth and families are receiving behavioral health outpatient and Home and Community-Based services.
• 90.7% of youth and families are connected with natural and informal community supports to strengthen community ties.

Significant improvements in overall functioning

Over the average length of enrollment (12 months), CSoC children demonstrated significant improvements in overall functioning.

• 74.1% of the children discharged demonstrated improvements in clinical functioning
• 94.9% of members reporting positive overall satisfaction with wraparound process
• 94.2% of members reporting positive satisfaction with progress since starting CSoC