Enhancing Mental Healthcare Through Collaborative Care

In today’s constantly changing healthcare landscape, the definition of “traditional care” has shifted. Mental illness affected more than 1 in 5 U.S. adults in 2021, yet only 47.2% of U.S. adults with mental illness received any kind of treatment. The need for a more dynamic approach to whole-person health that merges behavioral health with primary care has never been more crucial.

A Collaborative Care Approach

What comes to mind when you think about whole-person wellness? Often, the physical aspects of health treated by primary care are highlighted while mental wellness is grouped separately. At its core, Premise’s approach to collaborative care addresses this through the integration of behavioral health with existing primary care services to provide comprehensive care for individuals. This seamless integration brings together a multi-disciplinary care team consisting of primary care providers (PCPs), behavioral health professionals, and psychiatrists to deliver enhanced member care.

Enhanced care coordination

A care team needs to be well-rounded, organized, and communicative to ensure members receive continuous, coordinated care across various settings. Adding a psychiatrist to the team enhances the team’s capabilities by using their specialized knowledge to manage medications, create personalized treatment plans, reduce conflicts or gaps in care, and provide consultation to behavioral health professionals and PCPs.

With a psychiatrist’s support, PCPs can work confidently with members individually and prescribe at the top of their license and allow members to receive comprehensive care at onsite and nearsite health centers. Meanwhile, members continue to receive regular care from their licensed behavioral health provider, who collaborates with primary care providers and psychiatrists to share learnings and ensure seamless care.

Benefits For Your Members

The stigma of traditional mental health services is powerful, and the healthcare ecosystem can often make members feel generic or standardized. Imagine the ability to visit your PCP and receive a personalized care plan for your physical and mental health from a team that you trust while truly feeling heard and supported. Trust and strong connections make all the difference in healthcare, Premise’s approach to collaborative care is built on that foundation.

In addition to the benefits of provider coordination and building strong relationships, a collaborative care approach also provides:

Shorter wait times

The national average wait time for behavioral health services is 48 days. This is simply too long for individuals navigating mental health challenges. Premise’s collaborative care approach combats this through early intervention and onsite behavioral health support in a primary care setting. By addressing mental health issues promptly, members don’t need to wait months for a psychiatry appointment.

More provider options

Provider shortages are a major issue when seeking care, especially in sparsely populated areas and with specialized providers like psychiatrists. Premise’s collaborative care approach leverages virtual care platforms and delegates tasks across a diverse team to alleviate the difficulties of finding the right provider. This support infrastructure enhances the overall delivery of care and mitigates the impact of provider shortages on patient outcomes.

Enhanced medication management

The integration of psychiatry directly into behavioral health in a primary care setting provides the added benefit of prescription medication management for chronic mental health disorders. Members can benefit from the simplicity of visiting one primary care provider to fulfill all medication needs and will receive continued monitoring and support following a consultation. It’s a true one-stop shop for all your prescription needs.

Advanced Primary Care and Collaborative Care

Advanced primary care is an evolved approach that focuses on quality outcomes and preventive services. Through this approach minor health issues are managed efficiently before turning into major problems and behavioral health is considered an integral part of whole-person care.

There are many similarities between advanced primary care and Premise’s collaborative care approach. Both approaches emphasize integration between primary care and behavioral health and a coordinated care team approach for providers. Through the addition of a psychiatrist, the Premise collaborative care approach expands the scope of mental healthcare that can be delivered, while advanced primary care includes services like Care Management and Care Navigation which enhance chronic condition care and referral management.

But these approaches aren’t mutually exclusive. A combination of advanced primary care and Premise’s collaborative care approach delivers better health and better value along with an expanded scope of mental healthcare. Simultaneous care for chronic physical and behavioral health conditions and more efficient use of healthcare resources decreases the need for expensive emergency room visits and hospitalizations, creating better value for your organization.

Premise’s collaborative care approach, when integrated with advanced primary care, addresses mental and physical issues at their core and provides wide-ranging care for members, including the ability to schedule direct psychiatry appointments. In the complex ecosystem of healthcare, this approach bucks the trend of traditional healthcare offerings by providing holistic coverage through an integrated team of behavioral health and primary care experts. It’s a proven strategy that saves costs while prioritizing high-quality mental healthcare for your workforce.

Talk to us today about enhancing your behavioral health offering through Premise’s collaborative care approach.