Novel approaches to providing access to behavioral health care, like collaborative care and integrated behavioral health primary and social care models, have shown short and long-term positive patient and family outcomes in frontier, rural, and urban communities. These approaches are complex and rely upon coordination, systems-based management, efficient communications, team and community relationships, and virtual…
The psychiatric workforce shortage remains a serious issue in the field of behavioral health. In 2018, the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) designated 5,124 mental health professional shortage areas in the United States. Demand for the psychiatry workforce is projected to exceed the supply by 16,450 workers by 2030. Studies continue to show that…
Unmet need for behavioral health care remains high. Behavioral health provider shortages and associated maldistribution of practitioners across the country may contribute to suboptimal behavioral healthcare availability, with an estimated 59.8% of the 5,035 mental health provider shortage areas in the US located in rural and partially rural areas. In addition, lack of access to…
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and recent federal and state policy shifts impacting behavioral health care delivery, the use of telebehavioral health has rapidly increased. This growth appears to be here to stay and research must be conducted on what this means for the field. This article describes behavioral health provider perspectives on the use…
Many children with mental health issues in the United States do not receive necessary treatment due to a shortage of child psychologists. Existing research on the supply of child psychologists may not take into proper account the number of psychologists without a child and adolescent specialty credential that is needed to treat patients in this…
Behavioral health disorders have a wide range of treatments, however, recently there has been growing use of peer providers with lived experiences of mental health and substance use for the prevention and treatment of these disorders. Peers are effective providers of behavioral health treatment who encourage recovery through resilience building, empowerment, and self-advocacy. There remains…
The use of peer providers on behavioral health service teams is a potential solution for reducing costs and improving patient outcomes. Unfortunately, comparative studies of the use of peer providers are methodologically challenging due to the lack of standardization of peer roles and training requirements. This article discusses a study that conducted a literature review…
Health care workers are at increased risk of emotional distress during a health crisis because they shoulder the burden of the public’s trauma as well as their own. Unfortunately, mental health services for health care workers during a crisis like the COVID-19 pandemic are often insufficient and more research is needed to understand what strategies…
Older adults increasingly experience social isolation, anxiety, and depression due to the long-term effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Marriage and family therapists as well as mental health counselors are essential for meeting the behavioral health needs of older adults, but their services are not covered by Medicare. This article describes current Medicare legislation when it…
Medication is increasingly used to treat opioid use disorder (OUD) in primary care. It incorporates medication (ie, buprenorphine) with behavioral therapy and/or psychosocial services. Targeted planning for co-location of DEA-waivered buprenorphine prescribers and behavioral health (BH) clinicians could increase the use of MOUD. Presently, less than half of all waivered prescribers, outside of hospitals, are…
