The states of Delaware and Massachusetts have just lately made concerted efforts to enhance care transitions throughout their behavioral well being programs.
The Delaware Division of Substance Abuse and Psychological Well being (DSAMH), in partnership with vendor Bamboo Well being, has rolled out DTRN360, a behavioral healthcare coordination platform designed to attach suppliers, enhance care transitions and cut back silos throughout the behavioral well being system.
In the meantime, MassHealth, which is liable for the Commonwealth’s Medicaid and Youngsters’s Well being Insurance coverage Program (CHIP) applications, has labored with vendor PointClickCare on a brand new Behavioral Well being Therapy and Referral Platform, which is supporting the Commonwealth’s Expedited Psychiatric Inpatient Admission (EPIA) protocol by streamlining referral processes, sharing important data on supplier capability, standardizing admissions data, and providing a clear view of sufferers awaiting inpatient psychiatric placement in emergency departments or medical-surgical flooring inside hospitals.
The results of a multi-year effort, Delaware’s DTRN360 brings collectively state businesses and care groups by a unified digital platform supporting real-time communication and care coordination. It’s totally built-in into supplier workflows, permitting customers to establish one of the best subsequent step in care, handle referrals, view shared remedy historical past and assist people throughout behavioral well being and social service programs.
“This isn’t nearly expertise. It’s about serving to suppliers work collectively extra simply to assist the folks we serve,” mentioned Michelle Singletary-Twyman, director of operations at DSAMH, in a press release. “DTRN360 strengthens our behavioral well being system by giving care groups higher instruments to coordinate and keep related.”
In 2018, DSAMH launched the Delaware Therapy and Referral Community (DTRN) utilizing Bamboo Well being’s OpenBeds expertise to digitize behavioral well being referrals. The system has since facilitated over 250,000 referrals, enhancing the pace, accuracy and follow-through of care connections throughout the state. In 2023, DSAMH expanded the partnership with the addition of Bamboo’s Disaster Administration System, enhancing coordination between disaster responders and remedy suppliers. Collectively, these instruments set the stage for the total statewide launch of DTRN360.
Now, with DTRN360, suppliers who’ve the authorized authorization to entry a consumer’s data can coordinate care extra successfully by key options supporting higher outcomes:
• See related well being and behavioral well being historical past beforehand out of view, lowering reliance on sufferers to recall complicated care particulars throughout weak moments;
• Work inside their present scientific workflows with no additional logins or standalone portals
• Obtain real-time alerts to immediate proactive follow-up and outreach;
• Monitor referrals and placements throughout the care continuum to make sure heat handoffs and follow-through; and
• Join with companies addressing social determinants of well being, together with peer assist, housing, meals insecurity and different community-based applications.
The MassHealth Behavioral Well being Therapy and Referral Platform is designed to handle challenges related to behavioral well being boarding, during which sufferers face extended wait occasions in an emergency division or medical-surgical ground till an applicable inpatient psychiatric mattress is accessible. Behavioral well being boarding can create bottlenecks within the care continuum, contributing to present capability points dealing with the healthcare system in Massachusetts and throughout the nation.
In keeping with information collected by the Massachusetts Govt Workplace of Well being and Human Companies, the variety of sufferers boarding in acute care hospitals for greater than 48 to 60 hours whereas awaiting placement at an inpatient psychiatric facility has decreased by 59% since 2022. Nevertheless, many people proceed to expertise delays in receiving placement.
In Massachusetts, tthe Behavioral Well being Therapy and Referral Platform might be utilized by acute care hospitals, psychiatric hospitals, well being plans, accountable care organizations, and state businesses.
“The Behavioral Well being Therapy and Referral Platform is a significant step in the fitting route in serving to to scale back continuum of care challenges and making certain monetary stability of healthcare organizations, finally supporting sufferers and making it simpler for them to obtain the care they want in a well timed method,” mentioned Mike Levine, assistant secretary of MassHealth, in a press release.
