Panel touts integrated care as solution to behavioral health care crisis

More than 1,000 executive leaders from the nation’s top hospitals and health systems convened at the 2023 AHA Annual Membership Meeting, April 23-25 in Washington, D.C.

Patients are facing difficulties accessing care, while hospitals struggle with workforce and administrative challenges arising from prior authorizations, paperwork and other burdens, according to a panel discussion Sunday focused on behavioral health. 
 
Panelists Patrice Harris, M.D., CEO and co-founder of eMed and past president of the American Medical Association, and Arpan Waghray, M.D., CEO of the Well Being Trust at Providence Health and past chair of AHA’s committee on behavioral health, considered challenges and solutions for communities in a wide-ranging discussion moderated by Harsh Trivedi, M.D., president and CEO of Sheppard Pratt.  
 
The panel discussed solutions such as pairing with community partners and local schools; greater transparency from insurance companies; and better integration between mental and physical health.  
 
“The only way forward now is integrated care,” Harris said. “There is no one right way to do it, but we have to make sure we are making those connections between primary care and behavioral and mental health.” 

For more on the 2023 AHA Annual Meeting, read AHA's coverage.