Integrated
Care for Co-occurring Conditions (COSII)
In 2005, DHHS was awarded a 5 year, 3.4 million dollar grant to focus on co-occurring mental
health and substance use conditions. These conditions often co-occur (at least 60% of the
time), and best practice is for them to be treated together. In order to encourage this integration
of care, states and providers need to change much about the way they deliver services
The purpose of the grant is to help Maine make those changes. The initiative developed for
this purpose is called COSII – the Maine Co-occurring State Integration Initiative. COSII
has been busy at many levels. We work with providers to integrate care, we provide extensive
training and technical support, and we work with consumer and provider committees to change
policies and procedures at the state level. As a result, Maine now has a policy requiring that
all providers become capable of working with substance abuse and mental health problems in
an integrated way. In fact, this requirement applies to all conditions that might co-occur,
including physical health concerns and other problems associated with health. Leaders throughout
DHHS are working on ways to develop a more integrated service delivery system.
To understand how the COSII initiative affects both providers and consumers, access information
by following the links on this site. The Coordinator of the COSII project is Claudia Bepko
and she can be reached at 207 287-7360 or claudia.bepko@maine.gov.
