Founded in 1976 as the Foundation for Behavioral Health, it became the research and service organization that conducted the Hawaii Medicaid Project (1981-1988), a three-way research/service contract among the Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA), the State of Hawaii, and the Foundation for Behavioral Health functioning as the Biodyne Institute. A new delivery system was created, the Biodyne Centers, to deliver collaborative behavioral healthcare services to 36,000 Medicaid beneficiaries and 91,000 federal employees on the Island of Oahu (Honolulu) under a randomized, controlled 7-year study, with Nicholas A. Cummings, Ph.D., Sc.D., as principle investigator and Herbert Dorken, Ph.D. as co-principle investigator.

Subsumed in 1995 as a subsidiary of The Nicholas & Dorothy Cummings Foundation, it was re-incorporated and reorganized in 2003 as an independent nonprofit research, educational and service institute. Known as the Cummings Foundation for Behavioral Health, its main source of funding and support is The Nicholas & Dorothy Cummings Foundation. It is currently embarked on a number of projects:

Mission Statement

The mission of The Cummings Foundation for Behavioral Health is to promote improved quality in behavioral healthcare.   The major objective is to end the fragmented healthcare system by integrating behavioral health into the healthcare system.  The Foundation believes this is essential to improving patient health as well as improving the efficiency of healthcare.  To achieve these aims the Cummings Foundation supports efforts in the following areas:

• Integrating behavioral health into primary care medical settings
• Supporting  the increased utilization of evidenced-based assessments and treatments
• Supporting innovations in behavioral healthcare practice and education that break down barriers and conventions that harm positive innovation
• Innovating education to better prepare students and professionals for a 21st Century healthcare system
• Preparing professionals to practice in a manner that allows them to meet all the behavioral health needs of the patient, including prescription authority
• Decreasing any antagonism between the science and practice of behavioral health

To achieve these aims the Foundation supports activities such as:

• Conferences and workshops
• Scholarly books and journal articles
• Demonstration projects
• New curricula and training programs
• Awards and prizes
• Consultation

Headquarters Building

The Cummings Foundation for Behavioral Health occupied its new headquarters building in October 2004. Situated high atop a mountain overlooking all of Reno and the Truckee Meadows, and flanked by the Sierra Nevada Mountains, classes, seminars and distance learning are actively being conducted.

Distance Learning

Co-sponsored with the Milton H. Erickson Foundation and the National Alliance of Professional Psychology Providers (NAPPP) and scheduled for inauguration in 2007 is a distance (on-line) learning program leading to the Master of Behavioral Healthcare Administration (MBHA). This is a cutting-edge degree designed as a post-professional degree for practicing behavioral professionals (psychologists, social workers, psychiatrists, psychiatric nurse practitioners, counselors, etc.)

The Health Utilization and Cost Series (distributed complimentary to key leaders).

Volume 1 (1991):

Medical Cost Offset: A Reprinting of the Seminal Research Conducted at Kaiser Permanente, 1963-1981.

Nicholas A. Cummings, Ph.D., and William T. Follette, M.D.

Volume 2 (1993):

Medicaid, Managed Behavioral Health and Implications for Public Policy: A Report of the HCFA-Hawaii Medicaid project and Other readings.

Nicholas A. Cummings. Ph.D., Herbert Dorken, Ph.D., Michael S. Pallak, Ph.D., and Curtis Henke, Ph.D.

Volume 3 (1994):

The Financing and Organization of Universal Healthcre: A Proposal to the National Academies of Practice.

Herbert Dorken, Ph.D. (Forward by Nicholas Cummings, Ph.D.)

Volume 4 (1995):

The Impact of the Biodyne Model on Medical Cost Offset: A Sampling of Research Projects.

Nicholas A. Cummings, Ph.D., Sc.D., Editor.

Volume 5 (2002):

The Impact of Medical Cost Offset on Practice and Research: Making It Work for You.

Nicholas A. Cummings, Ph.D., Sc.D., William T. O’Donohue, Ph.D., and Kyle E. Ferguson, M.A., Editors.

Volume 6 (2003):

Behavioral Health as Primary Care: Beyond Efficacy to Effectiveness.

Nicholas A. Cummings, Ph.D., Sc.D., William T. O’Donohue, Ph.D., and Kyle E. Ferguson, M.A., Editors.

Volume 7 (2004):

Early Detection and Treatment of Substance Abuse within Integrated Primary Care.

Nicholas A. Cummings, Ph.D., Sc.D., Melanie Duckworth, Ph.D., William T. O’Donohue, Ph.D., and Kyle E. Ferguson, M.A., Editors.

Volume 8 (2005):

Psychological Approaches to Chronic Disease Management

Nicholas A. Cummings, Ph.D., William T. O’Donohue, Ph.D., and Elizabeth Naylor, M.A., Editors.

Volume 9 (2005):

Universal Healthcare: Readings for Mental health Professionals

Nicholas A. Cummings, Ph.D., William T. O’Donohue, Ph.D., and Michael Cucciare, M.A., Editors.