Sarah visited her primary care physician several times due to ongoing stomach pain issues, but all relevant tests returned to normal. Instead of sending Sarah away without answers or a half-baked care plan, her primary care physician (PCP) reached out to a mental health clinician at the same clinic to discuss whether the pain might be the result of a mental health issue. The PCP, therapist, and Sarah work together to determine a treatment plan for anxiety.
This is what smooth team-based patient care in America should look like, but it looks very different. In fact, patients spend hundreds of dollars to see multiple providers in the hope of getting answers, and providers lack the time and resources to work together to provide patient care.
Primary care and mental health professionals operate in silos, leaving patients like Sarah with increasingly complex physical and mental health needs physically, mentally and financially affected.
The Scope of America’s Mental Health Crisis
This APA Center for Mental and Health According to the report, “As many as 70 percent of primary care visits are driven by a patient’s psychological problems, such as anxiety, panic, depression, and stress.” In addition, NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness) It was found that nearly 30 million adults and children in the United States suffer from mental health problems and suffer without any treatment. Another 30 million people are still seeking treatment.
Despite the need for treatment, there is no Sufficient supply: 33% of U.S. counties have no record of licensed therapists, while 75% have fewer than 5. With supply falling far short of demand, it’s time we looked for other ways to treat those who couldn’t care for them because the system couldn’t afford them. Fortunately, there is a proven model that can help: the collaborative care model.
The model helps PCPs proactively manage mental disorders by pairing them with teams of psychiatrists and care navigators. This approach embodies a “patient-first” approach and bridges the gap between primary care and mental health providers to help break down barriers created by cost, accessibility and stigma.While this won’t happen overnight, taking small steps to implement a collaborative care model is critical to improving provider and patient satisfaction and delivering better healthcare outcomes
Removing Barriers to Better Collaborative Care
Scaling up collaborative care models will require collective changes in administration, education, and healthcare policymakers to truly scale and ultimately empower providers to better inform and deliver affordable, high-quality care to patients.
Collaborative care models require resources, tools, training, and education for teams to provide a space for better collaboration and understanding, creating a space where providers and patients feel comfortable. It leads to better care for patients when providers communicate and patients have an environment that helps reduce stigma and safely build relationships with trusted primary care and mental health professionals.
Time is always one of the biggest hurdles for doctors stuck in a fee-for-service system. Therefore, health systems must somehow compensate doctors for the time spent collaborating effectively with their teams. By adopting a more value-based model or compensating clinicians by salary, we can ensure providers are motivated to adopt this care and can scale efficiently.
Now is the time for collaborative care
The pandemic is a catalyst for change and has opened the door to innovative and effective ways to improve care. To effectively scale collaborative care, it is necessary to:
- Set the intent to implement the change. Without a commitment to change, the best current healthcare reform efforts will fail. It is critical for providers and stakeholders to commit to encouraging growth and change for a better healthcare experience.
- Get the support you need to succeed. Many healthcare organizations struggle to implement and maintain programs due to a lack of organizational support and engagement. The unique needs of each team must be listened to, a plan to address those issues/needs developed and approved by the highest organizational leadership who can make changes.
- Identify a change agent to lead the effort. Select a champion who can communicate with all necessary team members, launch a registry to document changes, share educational insights so participating teams can better understand and implement the collaborative care model and identify needed resource gaps. If there are communication silos between teams, it can hinder the success of the overall effort.
The mental health crisis burdens millions of Americans every year, and it shows no signs of stopping. Collaborative care is what America needs to support vulnerable patients seeking care. By implementing more resources, improving provider compensation structures, and removing time barriers, healthcare organizations have a ripe opportunity to positively impact the lives of thousands of patients each year.
Image Credit: Aleksei Morozov, Getty Images
