Behavioral health leaders are investing in EMR, AI documentation, remote patient monitoring and more.
Becker’s asked 17 behavioral health executives about their technology investing this year. All of the leaders featured in this article are speaking at Becker’s Behavioral Health Summit, set for June 19-20 at the Swissotel in Chicago.
Editor’s note: Responses have been lightly edited for clarity and length.
Question: What technology are you investing in this year?
Joe Austerman, DO. Section Head, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at Cleveland Clinic: We are investing in APP based asynchronous tools to help deliver evidence based adaptive support to patients in the moment and further connect the patient with the treatment team when not directly with the provider.
In addition, we are investing in tools such as ambient dictation and AI integration to reduce documentation burden of providers.
Scott Baker. Vice President at Array Behavioral Care (Chicago): At Array, we’re continuing to invest in our Epic-based enterprise platform — the backbone of our integrated behavioral health solution. As the only nationally scaled virtual behavioral health practice operating fully within Epic, we’re embedded in the same operating system that hospitals and health systems rely on every day. This means our clinicians can access and share real-time patient data, coordinate care seamlessly with medical teams and ensure behavioral health services are fully integrated into the broader care experience. This investment benefits both patients and providers: Patients receive more connected, continuous care without having to retell their story at every step, and providers gain a clearer, more complete picture of each individual’s needs. Our Epic platform also powers our proprietary Care Pathways, which use data and evidence-based protocols to match patients to the right care, at the right time, in the right dose. It’s a powerful way to eliminate fragmentation, improve outcomes and scale high-quality behavioral health care across settings and systems.
Jason Barker. CEO of ABA Centers (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.): From a technology standpoint, ABA Centers is investing in artificial intelligence to enhance our ability to deliver more impactful and agile autism care. AI is helping us identify patterns in clinical and behavioral data, enabling our teams to make faster, better informed decisions and ultimately improving outcomes for the children and families we serve.
But we also recognize that, in autism care in particular, technology should amplify the human element, not replace it. That’s why we’re equally committed to investing in our people. We’re expanding our training programs, growing our clinical workforce, and providing our staff with smarter AI tools that empower them to spend more time doing what they do best — building meaningful relationships, delivering high-quality care and supporting families every step of the way. For us, innovation is about marrying data with compassion to create a future of autism care that is as intelligent as it is deeply human.
Laura Buckley. COO at Connections Health Solutions (Phoenix): In 2025, Connections Health Solutions is strategically investing in several key technology areas to drive efficiency and security while ensuring continued positive outcomes for patients and team members:
- We are particularly focused on our AI strategy and integration in all areas of care delivery, including both front-line and shared services. For the last two years, we’ve leveraged AI to streamline our claims and billing processes to see an overall improvement to revenue cycle management. Recently, utilizing human-in-the-loop automation to support our internal audits has led to improvements in understanding and consistency for both compliance and quality outcomes. We continue to explore use cases where AI reduces manual burden and improves workflows across finance, IT and our broader operations.
- We’re developing a first-of-its-kind behavioral health acuity tool that allows us to most effectively manage our daily milieu, improve patient outcomes, and enable census- and acuity-based dynamic staffing to optimize workforce deployment and ensure we meet patient needs with the right resources at the right time.
- We’re demonstrating value-based outcomes and improving network management through network tech partnerships and enhanced [health information exchange]connectivity and interoperability to strengthen data exchange and care coordination across the continuum — demonstrating how to build a behavioral health system for value, not volume.
- Our data analytics platform is central to sustainable and longitudinal success for the business and for patients. Through our platform, we’re able to deliver deeper insights and support informed, real-time decision making and validation of the clinical efficacy of our care model.
- IT security remains a top priority as we safeguard sensitive patient data and ensure our infrastructure meets evolving compliance standards.
Ashish Buttan. Vice President, Physician Partnerships and Ambulatory and Chief Ambulatory Performance Officer at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles: We anticipate that technology will play an increasingly pivotal role in advancing behavioral health services, with telehealth remaining a cornerstone of accessible care delivery. Especially for mild to moderate cases, follow-up care, remote consultations and progress monitoring, telehealth offers a flexible, scalable, and patient-centered solution that reduces barriers to timely intervention. Beyond telehealth, the integration of cutting-edge technologies — such as AI-enhanced behavioral health screening tools, gamified therapeutic platforms and immersive VR/AR interventions — holds transformative potential. These tools can significantly enhance engagement, especially among children experiencing anxiety, trauma or autism, by making therapy more interactive, personalized and developmentally appropriate. Embracing these innovations not only broadens access to care but also improves outcomes by meeting patients where they are — both emotionally and digitally.
Nikita Duke, DNP. Vice President of Operations-Behavioral Health at Fast Pace Health (Franklin, Tenn.): The technology our team is investing in this year aims to improve patient engagement and provider experience. Our software engineering team is focused on enhancing access and registration capabilities. Additionally, they are working to improve the quality of documentation and patient outcomes by creating new tools that provide reminders for necessary laboratory and clinical entries. Our team has also invested in AI to enhance the provider experience with charting and completing documentation.
Ken Dunham, MD. Executive Director Medical Operations for Behavioral Health at Sentara Health (Norfolk, Va.): To manage our larger transformation projects, we are using a program management solution from a global management consulting firm. We believe this product can help us keep us accountable to implementation targets and milestones. We are also looking into AI solutions that help providers capture their hard work quicker, making their paperwork easier.
Tracey Izzard-Everett. Vice President of Behavioral Health Services at Sentara Health (Norfolk, Va.): At Sentara, we have successfully implemented innovative technology within our Health Plan by developing an electronic mental health toolbox. This comprehensive suite of interactive digital tools is designed to support both adolescents and adults who are facing challenges associated with social isolation, loneliness and various traumatic life events. By leveraging technology alongside compassionate support from our staff, these digital resources facilitate individuals in navigating their wellness journeys effectively. Our personalized approach is tailored to meet members at their specific points of need, significantly enhancing member engagement. As a result, we have observed marked improvements in collaboration and communication with members utilizing the toolkit.
Tyler Jones, MD. Senior Medical Director at Optum (Eden Prairie, Minn.): I am actively interested in supporting technology solutions that decrease documentation or other administrative burdens and increase physician and patient interaction time. This is clinically necessary and difficult to replicate or replace. Technology that summarizes encounters and can provide suggestions for accurately capturing clinical information is most helpful as a tool to facilitate and strengthen the clinician-patient relationship.
Patricia McClure-Chessier. Chief Healthcare Executive Leader at Streamwood (Ill.) Behavioral Healthcare System: Streamwood Behavioral Healthcare System will be implementing Omnicell machines to enhance operational efficiency, accuracy and safety in medication management. This will give valuable human resources additional time to focus on delivering a high-quality patient care experience.
Bonnie Moore, RN. Director of Inpatient Behavioral Health Services at Children’s of Alabama (Birmingham): This year, our focus has been on integrating technology that enhances the patient experience in meaningful and therapeutic ways. We have prioritized tools that support engagement, communication, and emotional well-being. We’ve introduced Apple Fitness and Nintendo Switch to gamify exercise, encouraging movement through interactive, fun formats. Disney+ provides age-appropriate, therapeutic entertainment, helping to create a calming and familiar environment. We’re also using the [Language Acquisition through Motor Planning] app to empower our nonverbal patients by giving them a voice and a consistent means of communication across care settings. These tools aren’t just about tech — they’re about meeting patients where they are, with empathy and creativity.
Lisa Pearson. Vice President of Behavioral Health at Chase Brexton Health Care (Baltimore): We are exploring the opportunities to enhance the engagement of telehealth through technology. There is a generation of young people who are digital natives and appreciate engaging remote as well, if not more than, in person!
Leo Pozuelo, MD. Chair of Psychiatry and Psychology at Cleveland Clinic: At the enterprise level, we have rolled out Ambience AI scribe, which has the potential to be a game changer!
For workflows optimization, the Cleveland Clinic uses AI products in the background, such as Palantir.
We are looking into conversation AI products that can assist in triage and intake assessments.
Chris Perry, RN. Vice President, Quality and Risk Management at Perimeter Healthcare (Alpharetta, Ga.): Perimeter Healthcare is investing in technology this year with patient safety in mind to protect our patients. Policy management software, risk software, rounding software and a fully integrated EMR will allow us to better serve our patients and the communities that we serve.
Jim Serratt. CEO at Parkside Psychiatric (Tulsa, Okla.): As we turn the corner into 2025, our most significant investment is underway: a full implementation of Netsmart’s myAvatar NX electronic medical record platform. This isn’t just an upgrade—it’s a strategic shift toward smarter, more responsive systems. NX offers a modern, intuitive interface designed specifically for behavioral health. Its functionality supports a wide range of workflows including individual and group therapy documentation, detoxification tracking, and closed-loop medication management.
We’re particularly excited about NX’s real-time analytics and role-based dashboards, which offer clinical and administrative leaders’ new clarity and control over data-driven performance. The mobile functionality enables more responsive care through tablets and on-the-go charting. And its financial management tools align with the increasingly complex world of value-based care and grant funding compliance. We are also exploring the Bells AI enhancement for NX—a powerful tool that supports real-time documentation, note summarization, and ambient intelligence. The potential to dramatically reduce clinician time spent on notes—while actually increasing documentation quality — is transformational for our team and the kids we serve.
Robert Trestman, MD, PhD. Professor and Chair of Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine at Carilion Clinic and Carilion School of Medicine, Virginia Tech (Roanoke): Here at Carilion Clinic, we are investing in a wide range of technology to support and grow our enterprise. These investments target reduced administrative burden (with tools such as ambient dictation), enhanced clinical productivity (e.g., self-scheduling software), improved enterprise workflow and finance optimization, and research informatics (with a secure research environment and a suite of data analytics tools). This is just a small sample of the technologies we are implementing. In addition to the software and associated hardware, we are investing in the people needed to make this all work seamlessly. It is a long list that reflects the dramatic opportunities that technology now offers in support of world-class healthcare in general and behavioral healthcare in particular.
Arpan Waghray, MD. CEO, Providence’s Well Being Trust (Renton, Wash.): Addressing burnout is a high priority for Providence and other healthcare organizations.
We’re investing in an initiative to utilize predictive AI/machine learning to identify and improve burnout. This work will analyze various data points — such as documentation time, patient loads and other relevant metrics — to proactively identify and address burnout. By doing so, we aim to predict burnout patterns before they fully manifest, enabling us to take timely and targeted interventions.
This proactive approach ensures that evidence-based tools and resources are available when and where they are most needed, fostering a healthier and more resilient workforce.
