As the Minnesota healthcare system combats a surge in demand for mental health services, the state faces a boarding situation crisis in hospitals and emergency departments. The number of youths in psychiatric crisis who are boarding in hospitals and emergency departments has soared in recent years—one study found that the number of kids stuck in ERs awaiting mental health treatment tripled between 2019 and 2021—and stays are getting longer. The reason: more than 80% of Minnesota counties are designated as areas with a mental health treatment shortage.

In the face of this challenge, PrairieCare, one of the nation's most innovative, fastest-growing psychiatric health systems, in partnership with the Metro Health and Medical Preparedness Coalition, AspireMN, and the Minnesota Department of Health, announced today the launch of the state's first Mental Health Collaboration Hub. The Mental Health Collaboration Hub is a free online resource available 24/7 for care settings that connects hospitals with mental health treatment providers across Minnesota, to share real-time information that helps match youth with available therapeutic treatment.

"We have a remarkable community of providers who are innovative, determined, and compassionate," said Todd Archbold, CEO of PrairieCare. "The Hub is the result of a grassroots effort to decompress hospitals so that we can provide better mental health care, faster."

More than 80% of the youth admitted to PrairieCare's inpatient and residential programs come from boarding situations. "We need to invest in upstream solutions that prevent crisis and develop thoughtful care pathways," said Archbold.

According to Kirsten Anderson with AspireMN, "Due to the lack of treatment options, children are now boarding in county administration buildings, held in juvenile detention, and other areas while they wait for appropriate care." In fact, many kids spend days boarding, and in some cases up to several months, a situation with sometimes devastating results.

Innovative, yet relatively simple in concept, the Mental Health Collaboration Hub allows hospitals to input de-identified case information for youth who are boarding in their system, and the Hub will match them to treatment settings across the state. The system also displays trend data in a dashboard that includes ages, diagnosis, guardianship status, treatment recommendations, and more. In addition to innovative reporting, case matching, and automation tools, the Metro Health and Medical Preparedness Coalition facilitates weekly video calls to discuss cases and treatment options in depth. This allows users within the Hub to strengthen their network and monitor trends in real-time.

The Mental Health Collaboration Hub has participation from over 90 organizations across Minnesota including the state's largest health systems, counties, and mental health treatment providers. Together, Minnesota's provider community has already identified over 100 children and adolescents in boarding situations. Of this group, 77 individuals have been discharged from inappropriate settings, and most of them are now receiving mental health treatment.

"These outcomes are a testament to the integral role that information exchange serves in identifying optimal care pathways in real time, a process that did not exist in an aggregated way between providers before," said Archbold.

The Mental Health Collaboration Hub joins another statewide initiative for healthcare providers known as the Psychiatric Assistance Line. This free service is available to any healthcare provider to call for mental health triage and referral, or for a consultation with a Board-Certified Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist regarding a patient.

Both the Mental Health Collaboration Hub and the Psychiatric Assistance Line are provided through a grant from the Minnesota Department of Human Services, and were spearheaded by PrairieCare leadership.

"Health systems and care providers across Minnesota have been collaborating to identify solutions for children in boarding situations, recognizing that this is a national crisis," said Archbold. "Both the Mental Health Collaboration Hub and Psychiatric Assistance Line are shining examples from the Minnesota healthcare community, and can be used as models for other states seeking to affect change and save young lives."

To learn more about PrairieCare or its programs, visit Prairie-Care.com.

 

Source:prnewswire.com

 

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