Terrie Andrews, PhD, vice president of Baptist Behavioral Health in Jacksonville, Fla., shared with Becker's the biggest growth opportunities for both adult and pediatric mental health over the next five years.
Terrie Andrews, PhD. Vice President of Baptist Behavioral Health (Jacksonville, Fla.): At Baptist Health and Wolfson Children's Hospital, the biggest opportunity for growth over the next three years is expanding access to mental health services in our community. The demand for outpatient, inpatient, and emergency room visits is forecasted to significantly outpace the expected population growth, which means an already taxed mental health system will be greatly challenged in ways we have yet to imagine.
Baptist Health and Wolfson Children's Hospital are deeply committed to providing mental health services to our community; they say there is no health without mental health. We are now seeing one in three individuals with mental health issues, which is an increase from the prior research that indicates one in five will experience a mental health issue. With the expected growth and demand for mental health services, Baptist Health and Wolfson Children's Hospital launched several initiatives and pathways to access mental health services.
One that we are very proud of and is changing how we deliver mental health services is the collaborative care model. This model provides immediate access to our mental health providers through the primary care office. Patients are no longer waiting six to 12 months for an appointment; they and the PCP are helped immediately by a psychiatrist and a licensed master's level clinician. The CoCM is evidenced-based and a huge patient and PCP satisfier.
As part of a robust mental health clinical and training program and part of a workforce innovation strategy, we launched a two-year post-graduation APRN fellowship, which we will present at Becker's CEO+CFO Roundtable this November in Chicago, Ill. This wonderful two-year model provides close training with psychiatrists and seasoned APRNs, didactics, supervision, and grand rounds; the program closely resembles a physician residency program with clinical rotations based on a year in the program. The APRNs are compensated at the lower quartile in exchange for close supervision and continued training. The APRNs nearing completion of the two-year APRN fellowship are ready for outpatient practice. As you know, we need more competent and well-trained practitioners in outpatient to meet the ever-growing demand for mental health services.
Lastly, Baptist Health and Wolfson Children's Hospital opened The Bridge Clinic, which provides quick access to mental health providers. The Bridge Clinic provides seven-day hospital follow-ups post discharge from the psychiatric units, follow-up appointments for those patients not meeting inpatient admission when in the emergency room, bridge appointments for medication while the patient is waiting for a mental health provider in the community, and patients who call our 24/7 crisis line and through a mental health assessment do not meet criteria for inpatient admission. The Bridge Clinic offers a time-limited series of appointments while the coordination team assists the patient with finding long-term care providers. The Bridge Clinic reduces the utilization of the emergency room.
This is an excerpt from a larger article featuring expertise from 65 executives and leaders who will speak at the Becker's CEO+CFO Roundtable, Nov. 13-16 in Chicago. View the entire article here.