Workshop Description
Social workers play a central role in ensuring safe, effective transitions after psychiatric hospitalizations and emergency visits — yet timely follow-up remains a persistent challenge. This webinar examines the NCQA Follow-Up After Hospitalization for Mental Illness (FUH) and Follow-Up After Emergency Department Visit for Mental Illness (FUM) quality measures, exploring how 7-day follow-up reduces risks including medication non-adherence, suicidal ideation, relapse, and avoidable readmissions across the lifespan.
Emphasis will be placed on understanding transitions of care, strengthening communication between inpatient and outpatient providers, and coordinating essential supports such as transportation, appointment scheduling, benefits navigation, and connection to community resources. Participants will engage in interactive polls and guided discussions to apply concepts to their own workflow environments, and leave with practical strategies to enhance follow-up rates, advocate for system improvements, and reinforce their central role in supporting safe, stable, and effective behavioral health transitions.
Learning Objectives
Following this course, participants will be able to:
- Analyze the key components and requirements of the NCQA FUH and FUM measures to identify opportunities for improving follow-up care in their practice settings.
- Apply evidence-based strategies to enhance timely behavioral health follow-up, including coordination of appointments, transportation, and community support, across diverse populations and care environments.
- Evaluate current workflows and communication processes between inpatient and outpatient providers to implement system-level improvements that reduce risks of relapse, readmission, and adverse outcomes for clients.
- Demonstrate strategies for advocating within healthcare systems to strengthen behavioral health transitions and improve follow-up rates, reinforcing the social worker's central role in promoting safe, effective care.
Continuing Education
1 CEU credit
This workshop is approved for licensed social workers, licensed mental health counselors, licensed marriage and family therapists, and licensed psychologists.
Fees
- NASW-NY Member: $15.00
- Other Chapter Members (e.g., NASW-NJ, etc.): $25.00
- Non-Member: $30.00
- NASW-NY Student and Transitional Member (No Credit): $0.00
Presenter
Sachie German Koufalis, LMSW, MPH, CCM
Sachie German Koufalis, LMSW, MPH, CCM is a Behavioral Health HEDIS Manager at Healthfirst with over 16 years of social work and case management experience spanning utilization management, foster care, clinical programs, and clinical quality. She is an active member of the Commission for Case Manager Certification (CCMC), where she volunteers on the Care Management test item writing committee, and a member of the Case Management Society of America (CMSA), serving on the Education Committee.
Sachie also serves as an advisor on the E&M Management of Acute and Chronic Conditions Committee for the Partnership for Quality Measurement (PQM), where she helps shape the future of healthcare quality by reviewing and endorsing measures that impact patient care across acute, chronic, surgical, behavioral health, and post-acute settings.