Access to Behavioral Health

Health care workers are stressed out, stretched out, burned out and leaving the profession in truly alarming numbers. It doesn’t have to be this way and there are opportunities to make workplaces engines of mental health and well-being.
AHA urged leaders of the House (LINK) and Senate (LINK) Appropriations Subcommittees on Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education to give favorable funding consideration in fiscal year 2024 to health care programs shown to improve access to quality health care for patients and communities.  
As more people turn to their local hospital ED for behavioral health and addiction services, an executive with M Health Fairview in Minnesota describes how the health system launched a special emergency unit to deliver behavioral health care in a quick and calming environment.
The Senate Finance Committee today held a hearing on removing barriers to mental health care, with a focus on improving provider directory accuracy.
With the COVID-19 pandemic receding from the national headlines and public health emergency (PHE) winding down later this month, it’s imperative to reflect on the pandemic’s impact on mental health care in the United States, and how we must adapt to face the ongoing challenge of providing mental…
The past five years have seen a rise in the number of people turning to their local hospital emergency departments for behavioral health and addiction services.
May is Mental Health Awareness Month. It’s an opportunity to note the progress we’ve made addressing behavioral health issues and delivering quality care, and to assess and take action to tackle the significant work that remains.
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. 
Inova Health System, Northern Virginia’s leading nonprofit health system, in 2021 faced 648 reported instances of such violence.
CMS April 5 finalized its Policy and Technical Changes to the Medicare Advantage and Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit Program for Contract Year (CY) 2024.