Final Project
Healthcare Admin Capstone
Milestone Three
Resource Allocation
August 15, 2021
Carrie Ferrell
Southern New Hampshire University
Final Project
Improving Mental Health Care Access in Rural Areas
Needs Assessment
An organizational needs assessment is a tool used to help assess the organizational needs
and help identify any potential risks. It can also be used to help address how to better meet the
goals and needs of the patients as well as ensure the organization can provide quality service.
The organizational needs assessment section of this paper will address the needs of mental health
care access in rural areas as well as the need to attract quality providers to the organization. This
assessment will support the need of this program, identify the target population, and discuss
specific management theories to aid in the implementation of this program.
Statement of Need
"Approximately one-fifth of the US population live in a rural area, and about one-fifth of
those living in rural areas, or about 6.5 million individuals, have a mental illness".[ CITATION
Mor20 \l 1033 ] Despite this, adults that live in these rural areas tend to receive mental health
treatment less than those in metropolitan locations. They also receive services from providers
with less specialized locations with their primary care providers filling in the gaps for mental
health provides. There are many barriers to mental healthcare access. The first challenge is
accessibility. "Rural residents often travel long distances to receive services, are less likely to be
insured for mental health services and are less likely to recognize an illness." [ CITATION
Mor20 \l 1033 ] Next is availability. "Chronic shortages of mental health professionals exist, and
mental health providers are more likely to practice in urban centers." [ CITATION Mor20 \l 1033
] Finally, is acceptability. "The stigma of needing or receiving mental healthcare and fewer
choices of trained professionals who work in rural areas create barriers to care." [ CITATION
Final Project
Mor20 \l 1033 ] "As of December 2019, 60.98% of Mental Health Professional Shortage Areas
were located in rural areas." [ CITATION Rur19 \l 1033 ]
Evidence
"According to WICHE's Rural Mental Health: Challenges and Opportunities Caring for
the Country, the most significant challenge preventing rural Americans from receiving care is the
lack of mental health professionals providing mental health services in rural and frontier areas." [
CITATION Rur19 \1 1033 ] "Barriers to behavioral health care include lack of insurance
coverage, stigma, mental health workforce shortage, and geographical maldistribution of
providers." [ CITATION MDM20 \1 1033 ] The main lack of barriers as already mentioned are
under or no insurance, accessibility of services, availability of adequate providers, the acceptance
of the community. Other concerns include reimbursement of services.
The reimbursement offered to providers by payors such as Medicare, Medicaid, and
private insurers can have a significant impact on an organizations ability to provide services.
Therefore, the program offers ways to entice providers to our organization using both monetary
and non-monetary ways. To fix the issue of accessibility,