Beyond the Bucket Brigade: Strategies for Behavioral Health Management Across the Continuum of Care

With nowhere else to go, individuals in need of behavioral health care are increasingly turning to hospitals for help. The surge in demand has overwhelmed resources at even the best staffed hospitals. Nowhere is the problem more pronounced (or more costly) than in the ED where the length of stay is considerably longer for behavioral health patients. This prevents bed turnover, leads to higher costs of care, poor patient experiences and outcomes, and treatment delays.

However, a well-designed behavioral health strategy should extend beyond the ED. The strategy should consider the full continuum of care, including upstream and downstream solutions for inpatient units and outpatient settings to improve access to timely psychiatric care and reduce preventable ED utilization. Instead of constantly bailing out the boat, let’s start plugging the holes.

In a live webinar hosted by the American Hospital Association titled: Beyond the Bucket Brigade: Strategies for Behavioral Health Management Across the Continuum of Care, leaders from Array explore how telepsychiatry can ease the strain and extend beyond the ED to cover the full continuum of care. Based on their expertise in the behavioral care space, the speakers present innovative, tech-powered avenues for crisis intervention, stabilization, and post-crisis support in acute and ambulatory care settings.

During the live webinar, the American Hospital Association and Array conducted a survey revealing how the demand for behavioral care is a challenge in hospitals and health systems. Many are reporting ED visits for behavioral issues at rates higher than 20%, and 67% are experiencing high readmission rates for these patients. Explore the data to better understand the landscape and the need for timely, expert-led virtual behavioral care programs.