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Insights and Trends

Two hospital strategies aimed at reducing risk and expanding care access

Hospitals are seeing a rise in behavioral health illnesses across care settings – placing a strain on emergency departments and other service lines that are not designed to treat these illnesses.

To meet the growing need, hospitals are seeking joint venture or contract management partnership with a focused behavioral health expert. In doing so, two hospital priorities can be addressed – leading to optimal outcomes for both the hospital and the community. These include:

1. Reduced patient and staff risk
By nature of the conditions treated, there is an inherent risk in treating behavioral health patients. There are a variety of new innovative solutions being used to reduce risk, including:

  • Electronic health records (EHR): An EHR system can help identify what additional services may be required for a patient to reach a full recovery. This includes uncovering previously unidentified behavioral health disorders, helping patients receive prompt treatment and avoiding readmission.
  • Wearable devices: Wearable devices can play a crucial role in lowering both patient and staff risk. These devices can alert staff when a patient has left their room – keeping patients safe and helping staff maintain hospital compliance. Utilizing wearable devices that keep care teams compliant with patient check-ups also lowers the risk of reportable offenses by a patient and helps them receive the highest quality of care at all times.

    Through partnership, a hospital can gain access to innovative solutions without the heavy lift of developing them from the ground up.

2. Greater ability to serve the community
Partnership with a behavioral health expert helps a hospital to meet the unique needs of the community it serves in a high-quality, cost-effective way. This is especially critical as 21 percent, or 52.9 million, U.S. adults experience mental illness each year.1

Hospitals that incorporate behavioral health services into post-acute settings are more likely to generate positive outcomes for both behavioral and physical health. This implementation across settings helps reduce the use of other post-acute services, thus generating cost savings and improved patient satisfaction.

A strategic partnership relieves the burden of running an efficient behavioral health program all while maintaining the hospital’s mission and values. It also helps enhance the current service offering by implementing critical behavioral health services to patients in need of both physical and mental health treatment.

Read our white paper, “4 Benefits of Behavioral Health Partnership for Hospital Outcomes” to learn how your hospital can streamline its clinical and operational processes to meet the growing behavioral health need.


Reference:

  1. Mental health by the numbers. NAMI. (2021, March). Retrieved January 12, 2022, from https://www.nami.org/mhstats

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