Embracing Value-Based Care: A Look at Psychiatry’s Game-Changing Mode
It can be hard to explain exactly what value-based care (VBC) looks like. That’s especially true in psychiatry.
VBC is all the rage now, but the concept has been around for decades. Think of it as incentivizing medical providers to do the right thing for patients at the right time in a cost-effective way.
The EmPATH unit has been the most striking example of psychiatric care unlocking value for the healthcare system that I have witnessed.
EmPATH is short for “emergency psychiatric assessment, treatment, and healing”. Dr. Scott Zeller pioneered the model in Alameda, CA around 2010.
After ruling out any serious or life-threatening physical problems, ER doctors transfer patients with mental health- or substance-related crises to the EmPATH unit for immediate specialty care.
Only months after the introduction of Montana’s first unit in 2018, the quality of care improved dramatically while its cost decreased by 20%. It’s rare to witness this in vivo.
ER wait times for psychiatric patients dropped by more than 60% to an average of about 4 hours and the frequency of physical restraints plunged.
Since they were receiving timely specialty care, fewer patients needed admission to the psychiatric hospital. In fact, hospitalization rates dropped to 35% from 55% and 30-day readmissions decreased to 12% from 19%.
Primary care is responsible for the bulk of VBC contracts with payers so far. Let’s not forget that true value can be found in some unlikely places along the entire continuum of care.
Our team at Frontier Psychiatry is committed to demonstrating that timely, evidence-based psychiatric- and addiction treatment is a source of value that has thus far been largely untapped.
