Behavioral Health

Philadelphia Bridges Mental Health Services Gap with Walk-In Urgent Care Clinic

Nicole Connell

Philadelphia’s first behavioral health urgent care for adults provides immediate access to vital services, helping to reduce ED visits and inpatient stays and offering a positive experience even on the worst days. Read on to learn more about this care model, which aims to improve access, elevate patient experience, and prevent crises.

Breaking Down Barriers to Mental Health Treatment

Valen Brozey

// By Susan Dubuque // Philadelphia’s first behavioral health urgent care for adults provides immediate access to vital services, helping to reduce ED visits and inpatient stays and offering a positive experience even on the worst days. Read on to learn more about this care model, which aims to improve access, elevate patient experience, and prevent crises.

Should Your Health System Invest in Nontraditional Partnerships?

Jared Johnson

Nontraditional partnerships provide unique opportunities for hospitals and health systems to enhance consumer experiences, expand service offerings, and address emerging health care needs. 2024 is a year of hope and new possibilities for health system leaders who look to do more, with fewer resources, than ever before. Amid uncertain financial forecasts, leaders increasingly look to Read More

The Rise of Nontraditional Partnerships

Dr. Creagh Milford, SVP of Retail Health, CVS Health

Health systems throughout the country explore nontraditional partnerships and find success as they seek to transform their consumer experiences. In our 2024 forecast, you’ll hear from leading innovators about exciting new partnerships with health systems in retail care, hospital at home, and other areas where they see future opportunities to better serve consumers. // By Read More

A Systemic Approach to Mental Health Care

Brenda Reiss-Brennan, PhD, APRN

More than 20 years ago, Brenda Reiss-Brennan, PhD, APRN, recalls being invited by Intermountain Healthcare (IH) primary care doctors to help improve the quality of mental health care for their patients and families. She recalls the doctors’ challenge: “Our biggest burden is stress, substance use, domestic violence, and depression our families are coming in with,” Read More

Technology Platform Integrated with Primary Care Takes Aim at One of Health Care’s Most Crushing Problems: Mental Health

Brenda Reiss-Brennan, PhD, APRN

// By Cheryl L. Serra // Fragmentation and lack of coordination in health care are still rampant. Intermountain Healthcare has proven that a team-based, holistic approach to mental health, rooted in primary care and enabled through technology, improves outcomes and reduces cost. More than 20 years ago, Brenda Reiss-Brennan, PhD, APRN, recalls being invited by Read More

Industry Leaders Reflect on the Unique Challenges of 2021

Mark Klein, senior vice president, Corporate Communications & Public Affairs, Dignity Health

“For two years, marketing and communication professionals have faced the excruciating crisis of a pandemic nothing fully prepared us for,” says Rhoda Weiss, president of the Rhoda Weiss Consulting Group. “We’re changing how and from where we work, balancing dichotomies of layoffs and staff shortages, experiencing colleague and personal burnout, dealing with new and conflicting Read More

The Crucial Intersection of Public Health and Clinical Care

Lara Sim, director of Community Health and External Affairs, Seattle Children's Hospital

COVID testing. Vaccines. Health equity. Do they fall under public health or clinical care? In most cases, it’s both, or should be. The gap between hospital-based clinical care and public health is shrinking, as community health initiatives increasingly focus on wellness and prevention. Health systems typically function as separate entities. Nationwide, the drive for revenues and Read More

When Public Health Meets Collaborative Clinical Care, Good Things Happen

Joie McCracken, MPH, program manager for Public Health – Seattle & King County

// By Marcia Simon, APR // “Medicine and public health share a common mission … however, important differences have prevented their integration and effective working collaboration,” says the author of a 2020 NIH publication: Covid-19: An Imperative to Bridge the Gap Between Medicine and Public Health. The work of the King County Hospitals for a Read More

Kiosks Can Bring Telehealth To Populations That Need It Most

Broadlawns Medical Center logo

Telehealth usage has skyrocketed across the country. In the past year of the pandemic, the weekly number of behavioral health visits increased 25 percent on average compared with before COVID-19. This is due to expanded use of audio and video technology. But a study of insured patients published in Health Affairs found that in poorer Read More

What’s Next for Health Care Marketing Post-COVID?

Dalal Haldeman, PhD, chief executive officer, Haldeman Marketing, LLC

COVID forced organizations to adapt quickly. Communicators’ skills were essential in navigating the crisis, and marketing led the way, meeting the extraordinary demand for information. Over the past year-plus, health system marketing departments radically shifted their priorities. The question is: Which COVID-era changes actually moved the industry forward and should remain? Which strategic initiatives have Read More

Reshaping Marketing After COVID: What’s the New Normal?

Catherine Harrell, chief marketing officer, Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady Health System

// By Marlene Kurban // Top health system marketing executives weigh in on how COVID forced organizations to adapt quickly. Communicators’ skills were essential in navigating the crisis, and marketing led the way, meeting the extraordinary demand for information. Were greater flexibility and agility unexpected byproducts of a challenging year? Will they propel health care Read More

Simple Technology Keeps Patients Connected to Care During COVID-19

Matthew Warrens, managing director of innovation at UnityPoint Health

“For the first time, many patients are experiencing what it’s like to be a rural patient where care feels out of reach,” says Blake Marggraff, CEO of CareSignal. “Patients who were once accustomed to frequent health touchpoints now feel the pressure to make do on their own — as providers experience staffing reductions and patients Read More

Reaching At-Risk Teens With Comic Books on Tough Topics

Ashleigh Hall, marketing manager at Centerstone

Suicide rates in the United States have increased substantially over the past two decades, according to the American Psychological Association. Since 1999, the rate has jumped 35 percent. For teens, the suicide rate is also on the rise. The rate of suicide rose 50 percent between 2000 and 2016 for women and girls, and 21 Read More

Centerstone Uses Comics to Talk to Kids About Tough Topics

Althea Fung

// By Althea Fung // Suicide rates in the United States have increased substantially over the past two decades, according to the American Psychological Association. Since 1999, the rate has jumped 35 percent. For teens, the suicide rate is also on the rise. The rate of suicide rose 50 percent between 2000 and 2016 for Read More

Optimize Your Website and the World May Beat a Path to Your Door — Plus Other PR Wisdom from a Not-So-Little Hospital System on the Prairie

Peter Hochstein

// By Peter Hochstein // Whether it’s a national news network on the phone, or a triple-header of a tornado, some of the biggest PR opportunities are unplanned. Even Lindsey Meyers, vice president of public relations and communications for Avera Health, sounds just a tad surprised that there’s such sophisticated medical research going on in Read More

COVID-19 and Behavioral Health: Health Care’s Response

Howard Gershon, Principal, New Heights Group

“In ordinary times, we are a nation of people with high levels of anxiety,” says Howard Gershon, a founding principal of New Heights Group and a member of the SHCM Editorial Advisory Board. But “[i]n times of a pandemic such as we are experiencing now with the ongoing fear of the deadly coronavirus, anxiety and Read More

Behavioral Health and the Coronavirus: How Hospitals & Health Systems Are Responding

Howard Gershon, Principal, New Heights Group

// By Howard Gershon, LFACHE // In ordinary times, we are a nation of people with high levels of anxiety. According to statistics reported by Mental Health America, during usual times, the combination of general anxiety disorders, phobias, panic disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorders, post-traumatic stress disorders, and related issues are reported to affect more than 21 Read More

Why Health Systems Must Tackle Behavioral Health

Howard Gershon, Principal, New Heights Group

With the shift toward value-based care and the assumption of risk, many health care organizations are beginning to understand that they must address behavioral health in conjunction with physical care for patients. In our new story, Howard Gershon, a founding principal of New Heights Group, discusses the business case. Here’s an excerpt. Behavioral health issues Read More

The Business Case for Behavioral Health

Howard Gershon, Principal, New Heights Group

// By Howard Gershon, LFACHE // With the shift toward value-based care and the assumption of risk, many health care organizations are beginning to understand that they must address behavioral health in conjunction with physical care for patients. Behavioral health issues are in the news every day, whether it’s a national sports figure who has Read More

Book Takes a Positive View of Health Care Achievements

Michael J. Dowling, president and CEO of Northwell Health

There are many reasons to write a book, but Michael J. Dowling, president and CEO of Northwell Health, identifies the need for an objective look at health care that takes positive achievements into account as well as challenges as his reason for co-authoring Health Care Reboot: Megatrends Energizing American Medicine. “I was growing increasingly frustrated Read More