Behavioral Health Urgent Care Cases on the Rise
Behavioral health urgent care settings can provide walk-in, same-day access to mental health services for non-life threatening conditions such as severe anxiety, panic attacks or depressive episodes. Behavioral health urgent care clinics can offer immediate assessments, intervention, crisis counseling, medication management and referrals.
How about your hospital facility? Has senior leadership considered expanding into a behavioral health urgent care unit? P
As an alternative to overcrowded emergency rooms, mental health urgent care environments can bridge the gap between emergency intervention and long-term outpatient services.
Mental Health and Urgent Care Visits
The urgent care concept is easy to understand in the physical health arena. Most of us have personal experience by opting to visit an urgent care center after doctor’s office hours. Rather than heading to a crowded or pricey emergency department, urgent care facilities can provide high-quality mental health care when complicated triage and trauma are not needed.
Urgent care facilities are typically staffed by a psychiatrist or nurse practitioner along with social services staff. Additional team members might include peer support specialists and financial eligibility staff.
Making urgent care for mental health crises a priority should ultimately lead to faster interventions, higher quality care and better outcomes.
Do you need a mental health consulting company?
It is up to behavioral health management companies and mental health providers to work together to develop urgent care facilities. We already know the model works for physical health emergencies. There is no reason to believe it would be less effective in dealing with mental health emergencies.
It’s time to get to work creating an entire network of urgent care centers for behavioral health. Safe and effective behavioral health management demands it. Providing better care at the moment of crisis can only help patients in the long run.
Horizon Health Behavioral Health Services
Horizon Health partners with hospitals and other behavioral care facilities. We provide effective staffing solutions, clinical resources, community education and regulatory compliance. Call 800-727-2407 or complete the online form to learn more.
