Best Behavioral Health Integration Products

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.