Mass. launches online portal to accelerate psychiatric care placement
Photo I Courtesy of State House News Service
More than 1,000 users logged into the state's new Behavioral Health Treatment and Referral Platform in the first 24 hours it was live.
State health officials and a software provider have launched an online portal with the aim of alleviating the emergency department boarding crisis for behavioral health patients.
The Behavioral Health Treatment and Referral Platform will be used among acute care hospitals, psychiatric hospitals, health plans, accountable care organizations and state agencies, as providers look to accelerate placement for individuals who need inpatient psychiatric care.
PointClickCare, which in 2023 won a contract from the Executive Office of Health and Human Services to design the platform, announced its launch with MassHealth last week. More than 1,000 users logged into the portal in the first 24 hours of it going live, the Massachusetts Health and Hospital Association said Monday.
"The Healey-Driscoll Administration is committed to increasing access to behavioral healthcare for residents across Massachusetts," Mike Levine, assistant secretary for MassHealth, said in a PointClickCare press release. "The Behavioral Health Treatment and Referral Platform is a major step in the right direction in helping to reduce continuum of care challenges and ensuring financial stability of healthcare organizations, ultimately supporting patients and making it easier for them to receive the care they need in a timely manner."
Waits for proper care in emergency departments are worsening, Health Policy Commission staff said last week. Nearly 39% of behavioral health-related ED visits spanned longer than 12 hours before discharge or admission to a higher level of care between January 2024 and May 2024, compared to about 31% in 2020.
The state's new platform works to streamline the referral process, share provider capacity information, standardize admissions information, and offer a "transparent view of patients awaiting inpatient psychiatric placement in emergency departments or medical-surgical floors within hospitals," PointClickCare said.
With the platform, "we're helping care team members communicate and coordinate more effectively with one another, enabling patients to quickly and efficiently receive support and placement, leading to better health outcomes," said Hamad Husainy, chief medical officer at PointClickCare.
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