Best Behavioral Health Products

Front-line docs are unable to immediately access specialist support, and patients wait for in-person visits to receive care. Telemedicine solutions that package relevant context and provide immediate access to specialist care can immediately alleviate these issues.

In general, mental health screening tools provide insight but fail to help providers connect patients with the appropriate care. A range of tools exist to support providers in better screening and triaging mental health patients. Screening tools that include embedded decision support to help non-mental health providers direct patients to the right care are especially helpful.

The challenge of limited specialist bandwidth is compounded by poor network management. A range of platforms are available to better optimize resources by connecting non-MH providers and patients with the appropriate resources.

Patient engagement drops off between visits, leaving patients unwell and providers blind to progress or issues. Digital technologies that provide on-demand cognitive and behavioral therapy (e.g. videos) help patients receive the treatment they need without direct provider interaction. The technology collects clinical and usage data from participants that providers can then use to tailor appropriate self-care modules for individual patients. The technology algorithm itself can even generate these modules. By providing immediate access to evidence-based care, health systems can improve wait times, reduce costs, and increase recovery rates.

Integration has broad applicability across diverse populations, care settings, and geographies (i.e., urban, rural). BHI requires coordination of multiple elements across a healthcare delivery system, including infrastructure, communication platforms, and payment systems. Examples of BHI models with demonstrated success include the IMPACT care model, Collaborative Care Management Model (CoCM), and the Patient-Centered Medical Home (PCMH) model.

Maternal and Infant Health: Between 5% and 25% of pregnant and postpartum parents experience some type of depression. Integrating behavioral health with OB/GYN, and primary care services, either physically or through digital modalities, enables more efficient behavioral health care delivery and allows for timely consults and/or patient screening/triaging across the pregnancy continuum.

It combines counseling, behavioral therapies, and the use of FDA-approved medication (methadone, buprenorphine, or naltrexone) and can be deployed in a variety of settings, including the emergency department (ED), which is a critical intervention point for individuals with a substance use disorder (SUD). ED interventions can be applied to those who arrive due to overdose, those specifically seeking treatment, or those presenting for a different condition but identified as needing SUD-specific treatment via screening.

Trauma-informed care recognizes the impact of psychological trauma stemming from an event, situation, or life circumstance on overall behavioral health, including mental health and substance use. Trauma-informed care incorporates trauma-based practices into a patient’s behavioral health treatment plan and at the point of first response.

Comprehensive school-based services include behavioral health promotion and prevention programming, screenings, at-school treatment, and intervention triage for students with more intensive needs. Health systems can support school-based services by providing clinicians (both in-person and through telehealth appointments) or provide training and education for providers employed by the school.

Recovery houses offer affordable living in a substance-free environment, in recognition of the critical role stable housing and strong community connections play in successful recovery. Recovery houses serve as settings in which individuals can form meaningful connections with other residents in recovery and obtain valuable advice on how to find employment, social services, and other resources.

A common form of peer-supported care is through support groups facilitated by an individual who has the condition or has recovered, a licensed provider in an office setting, or an online facilitator.

Behavioral Health: Peer-supported care is considered an evidence-based intervention for people with serious mental illness or substance use disorder in which certified peers support counselors help people in recovery. Online peer communities can be particularly valuable to those with behavioral health conditions due to the difficulty fo accessing services due to social factors (e.g., transportation), as well as the stigma associated with behavioral health conditions

These services include comprehensive care management, care coordination, health promotion, transitional care, individual and family support, and referrals to community and social service support. Community mental health centers are often designated as health homes as they are designed to encourage interdisciplinary care coordination at a lower cost.

These interventions can be administered in the community, through a crisis phone line, in the ED and at other sites of care throughout a health system (i.e., walk-in clinic). By providing this intervention at the right time, the first responder and clinical team seeks to mitigate further escalation of the psychological stress and minimize the potential for long-term trauma.

Crisis intervention teams (CITs) are police-based models that seek to de-escalate acute mental or substance use–related health crises.

Patients are referred to the community network by a prescribing clinician and, in some arrangements, reimbursable. The Community Network can include services such as community-based organizations, short-term in-home services, caregiver support and education, and more.

In these programs, care managers are responsible for a subset of patient populations helping them find providers, attend appointments, manage medications, and participate in care plans. Care management programs commonly stratify patients by condition, disease severity, or demographics such as age or socioeconomic status.

Emergency Department: ED care navigators work exclusively with patients in the ED setting. Navigators are alerted in real-time by triggers embedded in the EMR to intervene at the bedside when the patient has minor conditions or lacks a personal PCP. Beyond establishing a PCP, navigators also help connect patients with resources such as transportation, housing or medication.

Health coaches are typically employed by health system partner organizations (i.e., community organization, payor) and liaise between patients, medical teams, and community resources.