Council Connect Articles

Two Hospital Council-Endorsed Business Partners Pioneering Support in Behavioral Health  

A series of technical assistance papers on mental health offers valuable resources for state leaders, policymakers, and others on innovative services and the need for additional 988 implementations.   

The collaborative papers — “From Crisis to Care: Building from 988 and Beyond for Better Mental Health Outcomes” — emphasize the value of supporting technology innovations and expanding programs that incentivize and reward the use of technology to advance care delivery, promote appropriate information sharing, and maximize continuity of care.   

The National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors produced the reports on behalf of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. 

An example of technological innovation in behavioral health care is XFERALL’s real-time behavioral health placement network. The XFERALL network goes beyond a traditional bed registry to drastically reduce emergency department boarding times, improves access to appropriate level of care, and reduces staff hardship by streamlining the placement process.  

An early February webinar with XFERALL, hosted by Hospital Council, is expected. 

On the care provider side, Merritt Hawkins’ white paper — “The Silent Shortage” — details the issues affecting supply, demand, and recruitment trends in psychology and was recently featured in an article on psycom.net about America’s psychiatrist shortage. Merrit Hawkins’ report discusses an increase in demand for psychiatrists, their uneven distribution across the country, and, importantly, offers recruiting recommendations.  

As one of the nation’s most-recognized physician recruiting firms, Merritt Hawkins partners with hospitals throughout the country to help place high-quality clinicians and physician leaders across the spectrum of health care delivery systems.