Best ED-based Mental Health Interventions Products

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.

After making an initial connection, the CHW helps the patient set goals and keep up with the clinical care plan, also addressing any psychosocial, resource, and advocacy issues that arise. Often CHWs will focus on particular clinical diagnoses, like diabetes, asthma, hypertension, cancer, and maternal and child health.

Emergency Department: In the ED, CHWs have been especially successful in lowering unnecessary visits and readmissions, and in improving communication--when used to support care coordination with primary care after ED discharge.

Maternal and Infant Health: CHWs have contributed to decreased rates of infant mortality and low birth weight, as well as improved prenatal care access and utilization when completing prenatal and postpartum in-home visits and care management.

This sequencing avoids congestion and preserves expensive resources for appropriate emergencies. Examples of ED triage include the Verticle Flow technique, which brings staff and supplies to the patient at bedside, and the Fast Track technique, which develops mini urgent care clinics established within the ED.

ED care navigators are nurses or CHWs who connect targeted ED patients to a primary care provider (PCP). Alerted in real time by triggers embedded in the EMR, they intervene at the bedside when the patient: 1) has minor conditions and 2) lacks a personal PCP. Beyond establishing a PCP, navigators also help connect patients with resources like transportation, housing or medication.

Following triage that originates in a 911 call, healthcare workers are dispatched to provide services such as health assessments, hospital discharge follow-up care, minor medical procedures, among other services.

Behavioral Health: CP-MIH programs can be designed to support behavioral health needs by deploying behavioral health specialists with community paramedics to provide on-site care.

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.

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.