In the Beginning
Hill Country Community Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities Centers began operation in September of 1997. Prior to that date, components of six different State Facility Community Service divisions were merged to form a State Operated Community Service organization in September of 1996. As part of the initial foundation, staff met to develop the Mission, Values and Workplace Principles as a foundation for the newly formed organization, Hill Country Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities Centers (Hill Country MHDD Centers).
Today
Today, Hill Country MHDD Centers is one of 39 agencies that delivers mental health and developmental disability services in communities across Texas. Hill Country MHDD Centers serves the greater Texas Hill Country Region including 19-counties: Bandera, Blanco, Comal, Edwards, Gillespie, Hays, Kendall, Kerr, Kimble, Kinney, Llano, Mason, Medina, Menard, Real, Schleicher, Sutton, Uvalde and Val Verde. With a mission of Promoting Independence, Community Integration and Recovery, Hill Country MHDD Centers has 22 locations including 14 Mental Health Clinics and 8 Developmental Disability Centers serving a population of over 630,000 within a 22,593 square mile area.
Advisory Council
The Board of Trustees and Citizens’ Advisory Committee for Hill Country MHDD Centers represent population areas of the catchment region that are relatively equal. Some board members represent one county and others represent multiple counties depending on the population of the counties. The Citizens’ Advisory Committee has and continues to take an active role in obtaining community input into the strategic direction of the agency.
Diversity
Hill Country MHDD Centers serves a region of Texas that cannot be narrowly defined. There are pockets of the Greater Texas Hill Country Region with high rates of population growth particularly in those counties contiguous to Travis and Bexar counties, such as Hays, Comal and Kendall counties. Some of the region is sparsely populated with few, if any, alternative resources for behavioral health and intellectual and developmental disability services. A section of the region is on or close to the border of Mexico where we face the challenge of ensuring a provider network that is culturally diverse.
Challenges
Increased pressures on the financial well-being of the local authority, particularly around the expense of medications, has led to use of cost saving opportunities such as “‘Patient Assistance Programs”, improved access to third party pharmacy benefits and improved management of the local authority pharmacy benefit.
The overarching challenge facing Hill Country MHDD Centers is the need to be responsive and open to the needs of the hundreds of communities in the 19-county service region while ensuring an efficient and cost-effective operation with use of public funding. As the Local Mental Health Authority (LMHA) and Local Intellectual and Developmental Disability Authority (LIDDA) provider, Hill Country remains committed to evaluating the behavioral health and intellectual developmental disability needs of communities by collaborating with community partners and developing innovative programming using available local resources.
- The Hill Country MHDD Centers remains committed to:
- Ensuring people who need services can exercise individual choice by helping persons decide on their services, service provider and location of services.
- Ensuring the best use of public money to create a network of service providers.
- Making recommendations on the most appropriate services available to individuals who need services.
Hill Country MHDD Centers will meet this challenge with the support of our diverse staff, the Citizens’ Advisory Committee, our community providers, stakeholders, and Board of Trustees.
Shift in Care
Shifting toward a culture of evidenced-based care, corporate compliance has been the focus of Hill Country MHDD Centers’ strategic efforts. As the LMHA and LIDDA provider, Hill Country MHDDC actively uses performance-based data for decision making to provide quality services that transform access to care in the local communities. By increasing access to behavioral health and substance use treatment, expanding capacities to address the opioid crisis and establishing viable stakeholder partnership with local hospitals, law enforcement, jails, prisons and schools, Hill Country MHDD Centers’ qualified personnel have been able to provide individualized and compassionate care to the individuals served.