In an ideal world, legislation comes after deep exploration of needs and circumstances. In reality, this is often not possible for a variety of reasons. Last winter, the Colorado Behavioral Health Administration (BHA) was faced with an upcoming legislative mandate to establish a tool for providers to track and report their care capacity. The BHA contracted Bloom Works to conduct user-centered research to inform the best way toward legislative compliance. This research revealed that capacity tracking alone may not actually be what was most needed at the present moment, and had the potential to damage already fraught relationships in the behavioral health space. But the legislative mandate persisted, with many stakeholders hanging their hopes on the proposed tool. This session will discuss how the team navigated well-intentioned legislation that was found to be at odds with user needs, ultimately landing on a solution that balanced user needs with legislative requirements.

Policy + Administration