Workforce shortages, restricted patient access and shifting reimbursement are among the top challenges facing hospitals trying to meet the rapidly growing need for behavioral healthcare.1
Discover four key benefits of behavioral health partnership that can help optimize overall hospital performance.
1. Enhanced quality through specialized expertise
“Mental illness and substance use disorders – often referred to as behavioral health problems – are associated with high healthcare utilization and medical spending, especially when co-occurring with physical health problems,” notes a National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) study.²
To limit the use of unnecessary resources and medical spending, hospitals are focusing on improving access to quality behavioral health services and resources. The right partner will have access to exemplary resources, best practices and national trends that enable a hospital to better integrate behavioral health services while providing the highest level of treatment in a cost-effective manner.
2. Greater clinical and operational efficiency
Through the support of a partner, a hospital can begin to improve clinical and operational processes and efficiency in areas such as:
- Staff Optimization: A recent guide highlights that an experienced partner will have a team with both local and national reach, dedicated to recruiting top talent. This enables the program to effectively locate and hire highly-trained talent that matches the culture of the hospital and the specific needs of the community.
Once hired, employee support through training and educational pathways is crucial for continually enhancing an employee’s skillset and delivering high-quality outcomes. Doing so leads to greater employee satisfaction and retention.
- Enhanced Quality Outcomes Having a team of focused experts allows the hospital to leverage the latest trends, data and best practices – promoting efficiency and quality outcomes. Partnership enables hospital leadership to focus on their core acute services and helps relieve the burden of managing a behavioral health program.
3. Reduced patient and staff risk
By nature of the conditions treated, there is an inherent risk in treating behavioral health patients. There are a variety of new innovative solutions being used in behavioral health to reduce risk including:
- Electronic health records (EHR): An EHR system can help identify what additional services may be required for a patient to reach a full recovery. This includes uncovering previously unknown behavioral health disorders, allowing a patient to receive prompt treatment and avoid readmission.
- Wearable devices: Wearable devices can play a crucial role in lowering both patient and staff risk. These devices can alert staff when a patient has left their room – keeping patients safe and helping staff maintain hospital compliance. Utilizing wearable devices that keep care teams compliant with patient check-ups also lowers the risk of reportable offenses by a patient and helps them receive the highest quality of care at all times.
By partnering, a hospital can gain access to innovative solutions without the heavy lift of developing them from the ground up.
4. Greater ability to serve the community
Partnership with a behavioral health expert enables a hospital to meet the unique needs of the community it serves in a high-quality, cost-effective way. This is especially critical as 21 percent, or 52.9 million, U.S. adults experience mental illness each year.³
Research demonstrates that hospitals that incorporate behavioral health services into post-acute settings are more likely to generate positive outcomes for both behavioral and physical health. This implementation across settings helps reduce the use of other post-acute services, thus generating cost savings and improved patient satisfaction.³
Behavioral health partnership: achieve lasting results for your hospital
A strategic partnership relieves the burden of running an efficient behavioral health program while all maintaining the mission and values instilled in the hospital. It also helps enhance the current service offering by implementing critical behavioral health services to patients in need of both physical and mental health treatment.
To learn how we can help your hospital enhance its overall performance, visit KindredBehavioralHealth.com.
References:
1. Cheney, C. (2021). Tackling the top 3 challenges in Behavioral Health. HealthLeaders Media. Retrieved January 11, 2022, from https://www.healthleadersmedia.com/clinical-care/tackling-top-3-challenges-behavioral-health
2. Goldman, M. L., Spaeth-Rublee, B., Nowels, A. D., Ramanuj, P. P., & Pincus, H. A. (2016, April). Quality measures at the interface of Behavioral Health and Primary Care. Current psychiatry reports. Retrieved January 11, 2022, from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5847488/
3. Mental health by the numbers. NAMI. (2021, March). Retrieved January 12, 2022, from https://www.nami.org/mhstats
Kindred Behavioral Health partners with health systems across the country to expand access to behavioral health services and produce excellent outcomes.