Population Behavioral Health
Building partnerships to strengthen community engagement and drive clinical improvement
The Population Behavioral Health program is focused on improving health and outcomes for children with behavioral health needs. Integration of behavioral health into whole-child healthcare is foundational to the population behavioral health program. The strategic goals for Population Behavioral Health are listed below.
Key Highlights
The Population Behavioral Health program has made substantial progress in improving behavioral health access and outcomes through:
- Enhanced data visibility through a new dashboard that provides detailed access data
- Behavioral health attribution leveraged in the Pediatric Improvement Network for Quality (PINQ)
- A reduction in mental health related emergency department visits and inpatient stay rates for practices with an integrated behavioral health provider
Reducing Costs
Integrated behavioral health (IBH) is proving to reduce total healthcare costs for youth. HealthVine members seen in primary care practices that have IBH have total lower costs compared to members in practices without IBH.
per member per year
for HealthVine members attributed to a practice with integrated behavioral health
per member per year
for HealthVine members attributed to a practice without integrated behavioral health
Decrease in Emergency Department Visits
Practices with an integrated behavioral health provider saw a 26% decrease in emergency department (ED) utilization for mental health visits for their patients. Reducing rates of ED utilization can reflect more effective earlier intervention and community-based management of escalating mental health symptoms.
Strategic Plan Delivery Achievements
- Trained 492 providers in measurement-based care
- 80% of youth seen by an integrated behavioral health provider completed treatment within six visits
- Added five behavioral health organization teams to the PINQ behavioral health network, including psychiatry fellows and a group specializing in developmental disabilities
- Achieved a PINQ network centerline shift in inpatient admissions
- Sustained workforce through implementing training and consultation model for care managers, which demonstrates higher member engagement rates
- Developed collaborative wait times dashboard to guide referrals and track website engagement
"Having IBH services available in our office has been one of the most positive changes that has occured in the 7 years I have worked at WSP. The mental health crisis is not letting up, and having the ability to get timely counseling, crisis management, diagnostic evaluations and coaching on coping strategies has been invaluable."
Dr. Jennifer France, West Side Pediatrics
Looking Forward
In 2025, Population Behavioral Health is focusing on:
- Reducing the need for higher-level care utilization by integrating the latest research and training into our programs and ensuring providers are equipped with these comprehensive resources
- Scaling PINQ Behavioral Health and Integrated Behavioral Health
- Integrating training success by building on previous training sessions related to lethal means counseling and suicide prevention and spreading this training to other PINQ and population health teams