Integration of primary care and behavioral health services, improved provider training on mental health, and policy changes were all highlighted as strategies to combat the prevalence of mental health and substance abuse during the keynote at AHIP2022.
Evidence shows that the integration of behavioral medicine into primary care has led to significant clinical outcomes and cost improvements in the fight against mental health and substance abuse epidemics. However, keynote panelists at AHIP 2022 say that some barriers remain to the integration of behavioral medicine, which has historically been isolated from physical health.
Dr. Shantanuagradal, MD, Chief Health Officer of Anthem, acknowledged the impact of COVID-19 on mental health and began discussions. Even before the pandemic, the gap between physical and behavioral health care has been shown to be exacerbating for American families seeking affordable mental and addiction treatments. rice field.
“I have found many primary care providers. [PCPs] They often refer to those services because they are not really happy with tackling behavioral health issues and feel comfortable without knowing exactly what to do.
“We need to better support all the PCPs, doctors and nurse practitioners mentioned above with better training on different types of topics, and provide them with consultation services — they. Support them with their ability to maintain behavioral health problems and deal with them in their practice. “
In addition to PCP, Agrawal said the need for diversification of behavioral health professionals, including health coaches and peer support counselors, to meet the high demand for mental health services.
“We need to do more to implement different types of care. We have as much access as possible. This includes both asynchronous and synchronous digital care, virtual care, and it Do everything you need from a policy and payment perspective to actually enable it. “He added.
“And finally, we and many other companies I know have a model that really integrates behavioral and physical health care. It actually puts these needs together and at the same time provides care for social needs. Whenever combined with, it has a significant impact on results. “
Further touching on the usefulness of the collaborative care model, Miriam Delphin-Rittmon, PhD, Mental Health and Material Use Assistant Secretary, HHS, and Substance Abuse and Mental Health Service Management (SAMHSA) managers have integrated care as data. HHS priorities show a substantial improvement in health outcomes when primary care is combined with mental health and substance abuse services.
“It creates an additional entrance to the service and supports individuals suffering from mental health or substance use services,” explained Delphin-Rittmon.
She finds that one of the programs that HHS has helped support and fund is screening, simple interventions, and referral to treatment (SBIRT) models in primary care environments, and suffers from mental health and substance use challenges. Helps identify individuals. Connect them to services and support.
Delphin-Rittmon added that screening for primary care status in behavioral health settings may also help with overall health and wellness, as individuals in behavioral health settings are often not connected to the PCP. ..
“That is, in practice, we need to think a little differently about training from a training and education perspective, and it is important to expose both physicians and behavioral health care providers to screening in other areas. You can connect to important services. “
In her work as CEO and co-founder of PsychHub, which provides multimedia education to people addressing mental health challenges, Marjorie Morrison is one of the strategies her organization is adopting to improve quality. One was to train the provider and certify it as a specialty of behavioral care.
“Everyone wins when they act as specialists. Consumers receive better care, get better production in fewer sessions, and providers have much less burnout and care. You can save on your total cost, “says Morrison.
“At high levels, mental health can be very confusing. You have different types of providers, psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, coaches, peers, and different types like digital CBT. There is an intervention. [cognitive behavioral therapies], [as well as] Symptoms and Diagnosis … They must be informed when considering how confusing it is for the average consumer. “
From a policy and reimbursement perspective, Morrison emphasized the disparity in incentives for PCPs that can be reimbursed for education on diabetes, weight loss, or smoking cessation, but not for mental health.
In adopting a holistic approach, she can also help the transition to telemedicine provide consultation to patients with lower vision to lower-level care providers such as colleagues and coaches. He said he had sex. However, this requires an integrated model that allows refunds to these providers.
“We need to be able to save psychiatrists and psychologists for those in need. We also promote measurement-based care, feedback-based care, and quality refunds. We have begun. We need to be more innovative in redemption when we can take risks and enter into value-based contracts. “
“The different types of providers that can be refunded for these services have policy restrictions. Part of the problem is to implement what we know to work. We don’t necessarily need a lot of policy changes, we need to make various changes to the healthcare system and organizations like me, “Agrawal concludes.
“I think the pandemic actually exhibited this. Frankly, I had to make a shift that I could have done before … this is to implement what you know. It encourages changes in the ecosystem accordingly. “
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