5 Tips for Redesigning Behavioral Healthcare Delivery

About six years ago, when the pandemic turned the world upside down and spurred a spike in anxiety and depression, the team at La Crosse, Wisconsin-based Emplify Health realized they needed to rethink their approach to behavioral healthcare. In-person treatment was not enough to address the crisis: They decided to expand their clinical reach with telehealth.

“It forced us to look at things differently,” said Debbie Patz, vice president of Emplify Health Behavioral Health in Green Bay, Wisconsin. “We had to help our community.”

Patz was among the panelists who spoke at a panel titled “Behavioral Health Is Infrastructure: Redesigning Care Delivery Around Behavioral Health” at the American Hospital Association’s annual Leadership Summit in Denver earlier this month. During the July 14 session sponsored by the telepsychiatry provider Iris Telehealth, she and other healthcare leaders discussed how hospitals and health systems can meet the growing need for behavioral health services in the face of headwinds such as workforce shortages and the stigma that still discourages many from seeking help.

Here are a few key recommendations and best practices the panelists shared, shedding light on how hospitals and health systems can overcome obstacles and expand access to much-needed behavioral healthcare services with telehealth.

1 | Define the problem you want to solve.

For health systems seeking to build the infrastructure needed to support a behavioral healthcare service line, Marilou Counard, director of Ambulatory Clinical Services and Business Development for Emplify Health Behavioral Health, recommends starting by asking, “What is the problem we’re really trying to solve?”

She advises considering what you want to accomplish with behavioral health: Are you in a rural community with a shortage of behavioral health professionals? Do you aim to expand access?

To identify the issue, providers need to lean in and listen, according to Patz. “The community knows, your family knows, your friends know, the healthcare workers know. They know what the needs are,” she said. “Ask why, truly listen and then pick one or two things that will be impactful.”

2 | Quantify your return on investment (ROI).

To obtain buy-in from your health system’s chief financial officer and other executives, it’s crucial to do the math and define the value added by behavioral health services, according to Doug Muir, the Behavioral Health Initiatives director for CommonSpirit Health in Centennial, Colorado For example, he suggested tracking avoidable days and reductions in workplace violence.

“You have to have the financial piece,” he said. “You have to measure the outcomes.”

3 | Invest in future clinicians.

Forming partnerships to create local talent pipelines can ease shortages of behavioral health professionals, and adding telehealth can significantly bolster recruitment efforts. For example, CommonSpirit works with Colorado’s community college system and has made joining the health system’s behavioral health team more appealing by partnering with Iris Telehealth to offer telehealth and remote work options.

“Tele is one of the primary solutions for workforce,” Muir said.

4 | Pick the right partners.

If you’re adding telehealth to your behavioral healthcare services, it helps to find a partner that already has experience delivering high-quality virtual care, rather than building that approach internally from scratch.

“It's great to have a partner where you have a foundation for providing the services that you need,” Muir said. “It's important who you choose.”

Considering how rapidly the healthcare landscape is changing, Iris Telehealth Chief Growth Officer David Bartley advises providers to select partners while considering how their needs will evolve over the next six months or longer: “Find those that can evolve with you.”

5 | Celebrate small wins.

Building out a sustainable behavioral healthcare service line and successfully incorporating telehealth can be a monumental task. The panelists warned against fixating too much on the “end zone” and forgetting to celebrate the incremental wins as you progress toward your ultimate objective.

“Celebrate those wins,” Patz advised. “Because you and your team are going to make a difference.”