Mental-health providers will merge June 1

BOULDER – Two mental-health providers in Boulder County will merge beginning June 1, according to an announcement Thursday.

Mental Health Partners and the Boulder County Public Health Addiction Recovery Centers Division will integrate over the course of the next six months, providing care to 23,000 people annually.

The announcement was made jointly by leaders from both organizations.

“This integration combines the extensive expertise of both ARC and MHP professionals to better serve community members in need of substance use or mental health treatment,´ said Jeff Zayach, public health director for Boulder County Public Health in a prepared statement.

“The ARC and MHP integration is a very progressive repositioning that moves us significantly forward in our continuum of care, including our efforts to integrate both mental-health and substance-use treatment with physical health care,´ said Barbara Ryan, chief executive of Mental Health Partners, in a prepared statement.

“The integration simultaneously responds to health-care reform instituted by the Affordable Care Act and the extension of federal parity protections,” Ryan said. “Parity requires mental-health benefits and substance-abuse benefits to be provided on-par with physical health benefits.”

The two programs together will have 16 locations in Boulder, Broomfield, Lafayette and Longmont.

Branding questions, including whether the two will keep their own names or choose a new name together, have not yet been answered.

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