Elimination of Behavioral Health Wait Times: Impact on "Avoidable" Medical Visits, Productivity, and Revenues.

IF 3.3 3区医学 Q1 HEALTH POLICY & SERVICES Psychiatric services Pub Date : 2025-02-13 DOI:10.1176/appi.ps.20240287

Jules Rosen, Michelle Hoy, Lucy Cordts, Andrea Laplante, Dustin Baker, Daniel Maeng

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Objective: Delayed access to behavioral health services results in poor outcomes and higher costs. This brief report describes the elimination of a 702-person behavioral health waitlist through phase-based care (PBC), an innovative approach that aligns behavioral health resources with new patients with high-acuity need.

Methods: Two PBC clinics, one triage and another high-acuity treatment, were established. Comparisons of pre-post interventions analyzed nonbehavioral health medical encounters, behavioral health productivity, and no-show rates.

Results: Of 702 waitlisted persons, 614 attended triage clinics within 3.5 months, with patients needing acute care (37%) entering the treatment clinic within 2 weeks. Following evaluation, the waitlisted patients had 23% fewer medical encounters per month (p<0.001), behavioral health revenues increased 29% (p<0.001), behavioral health visits increased 165% (p<0.001), health evaluations increased 287% (p<0.001), and no-shows decreased 33% (p<0.001).

Conclusions: Reallocating resources to new patients and those needing acute care resulted in increased behavioral health evaluations and productivity and reduced nonbehavioral health services without adding staff.

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来源期刊

Psychiatric services 医学-公共卫生、环境卫生与职业卫生

CiteScore

5.80

自引率

7.90%

发文量

295

审稿时长

3-8 weeks

期刊介绍： Psychiatric Services, established in 1950, is published monthly by the American Psychiatric Association. The peer-reviewed journal features research reports on issues related to the delivery of mental health services, especially for people with serious mental illness in community-based treatment programs. Long known as an interdisciplinary journal, Psychiatric Services recognizes that provision of high-quality care involves collaboration among a variety of professionals, frequently working as a team. Authors of research reports published in the journal include psychiatrists, psychologists, pharmacists, nurses, social workers, drug and alcohol treatment counselors, economists, policy analysts, and professionals in related systems such as criminal justice and welfare systems. In the mental health field, the current focus on patient-centered, recovery-oriented care and on dissemination of evidence-based practices is transforming service delivery systems at all levels. Research published in Psychiatric Services contributes to this transformation.