How behavioral health partnership can help
The rapid rise in behavioral health needs, coupled with declining staff census, has placed an even greater emphasis on a hospital’s ability to deliver efficient and effective care. To successfully meet the growing need, hospital leaders are finding that joint-venture or contract management partnership with a behavioral health expert can help them overcome these obstacles and improve outcomes.
Below are two key benefits of behavioral health partnership for hospital success:
- Enhanced quality through specialized expertise
“Mental illness and substance use disorders – often referred to as behavioral health problems – are associated with high healthcare utilization and medical spending, especially when co-occurring with physical health problems,” notes an NCBI study.1
To limit the use of unnecessary resources and medical spending, hospitals are focusing on improving access to quality behavioral health services and resources. The right partner will have access to exemplary resources, best practices and national trends that enable a hospital to better integrate behavioral health services in a cost-effective manner. Further, having a dedicated behavioral health unit or hospital allows patients to be transferred to the appropriate care setting faster. This relieves the burden on overcrowded EDs, as well as other care settings that are not equipped to effectively treat behavioral health conditions. - Greater clinical and operational efficiency
Through the support of a partner, a hospital can improve clinical and operational processes in the following areas:
- Staffing
An experienced partner will have a team with both local and national reach dedicated to recruiting top talent. This enables the program to effectively locate and hire highly-trained talent that complements the culture of the hospital and the specific needs of the community. Additionally, when the right individual is hired, hospital resources are used in the most effective way – leading to improved patient satisfaction and decreased readmission risk. - Enhanced Quality Outcomes
Having a team of focused experts allows the hospital to leverage the latest trends, data and best practices – promoting efficiency and quality outcomes. Partnership enables hospital leaders to focus on their core acute services and can help relieve the burden of managing a behavioral health program.
- Staffing
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.
References
- Goldman, M. L., Spaeth-Rublee, B., Nowels, A. D., Ramanuj, P. P., & Pincus, H. A. (2016, April). Quality measures at the interface of Behavioral Health and Primary Care. Current psychiatry reports. Retrieved January 11, 2022, from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5847488/
