Category: News

The pace of change in the field of mental health can be disorienting. It is an industry tied closely to the whims of public policy makers and influenced by public perceptions.

Reimbursement rates fluctuate. Rules for access to care are continually tweaked and amended. News of epidemics, such as homelessness and opioid addiction, spur public action that bring both opportunities and challenges to mental health care providers.

Change is to be expected in any industry. When it occurs, it becomes clear that some businesses have better positioned themselves than others to deal with it. But how? Is it luck? Probably not.

‘Adaptability’ is the easy answer to how some businesses successfully deal with change. But what does that look like in a non-profit mental health services agency or in a practitioner?

For this post we are looking at agencies. Business schools teach the concept of having a “Customer-Oriented” business model. This is in contrast to the “Product-Oriented” approach in which a business focuses on the goods and services it provides today in order to find ways to improve them. The product approach plans only for a future in which the business’ services remain relevant. This is a fine strategy for an unchanging industry. Of course, all industries change.

Instead, by building your business around the needs of customers you are better positioned to weather periods of change. You gain a clearer view of the value you are providing to your clients. You are focused on delivering what they need, so you are the first to know when those needs start to change. Refining your business with this in mind requires dedicating time and money to analyzing the work you do and how it might change with the needs of your customers over time. This is a structural challenge that requires buy-in at all levels of your organization. Front line staff are your eyes and ears, and must communicate client feedback to managers. They must also be prepared to routinely adapt to changes in procedure. Management must attend to training employees for change, while they keep an eye on the big picture.

For mental health service providers it boils down to maintaining a balanced team of prescribers and support staff, and being prepared to rebalance and retrain your team on a regular basis. Maximizing the value of your team allows your agency to thrive while providing the best quality of care to your clients. It isn’t rocket science, but it can be daunting. We can help.

Working with Sites Professionals to staff and support your organization’s psychiatric services has benefits beyond just the recruitment and placement of practitioners. We help provide insight into the best way to build and utilize your medication support team for better client care and efficient billing and reimbursement. That is why we get to know you with in-person meetings and frequent contact. We are big believers in the value of community-based care, and buying into your mission allows us to find terrific matches for your staffing needs.

Working with Sites Professionals to fill your psychiatric staffing needs usually follows just a few steps. We personally get to know your agency to make sure we’re a good fit for your recruitment needs. Once it’s decided we are a good match, we sign an agreement. Then Sites Professionals identifies appropriate candidates from our network of providers and we arrange a face-to-face introduction between them and your team. Once you accept a practitioner the deposit is due, followed by a signed Assignment Confirmation letter. The placement then commences.

Most of our placements are for a period of 12 months. Six-month placements are available in many cases. At the conclusion of the placement, the agreement can be renewed, terminated, or in many cases there is a buyout option.

We have much more information on our website including a new FAQ section for Agencies

Or you can contact us directly. Happy New Year!

A report recently published by the National Council for Behavioral Health lays bare the challenges faced by service providers in providing their patients with adequate psychiatric care. Among the many startling findings is the scope of the shortage which has become a nationwide problem:

“[The] study revealed that 55 percent of counties in the continental U.S. do not have any psychiatrists. Another study concluded that 77 percent of U.S. counties had ‘severe shortages’ of psychiatrists and other behavioral health providers.”

The report goes on to highlight a number of factors that have contributed to and exacerbated the shortage, particularly those that have led an increasing number of psychiatrists to operate exclusively in cash-only private practice. The result of which is that outpatient clinical psychiatry is left with an acute shortage of psychiatrists. These factors include: work environments plagued with employee burnout; a delay in the adoption of efficient and productive services such as Collaborative Care and Telepsychiatry due to regulatory restrictions; insufficient levels of reimbursement for psychiatric care; and the challenges of servicing geographically dispersed populations. This has deleteriously impacted the quality of care for particularly vulnerable populations. Families, foster youth, and the elderly are among the groups most likely to experience longer wait times and otherwise diminished access to quality integrated psychiatric services.

While we do not presume to have all of the answers, we see a number of ways in which psychiatrists, mental health agencies, and organizations like Sites Professionals can act to improve access to quality psychiatric care for all patients. For one, we work to improve the efficiency of the processes by which agencies and psychiatrists provide services. Efficiency is the work of systems and should be largely unseen by frontline service providers. It should make their work more fruitful and impactful by removing barriers to productivity and many common causes of burnout. With proper implementation, mental health agencies can dedicate their resources to quality of care while psychiatrists can focus on their clients without getting bogged down in administrative work.

View Full PDF Report Here