The United States has a rich history when it comes to behavioral health care. It is estimated that some 44 million Americans live with a mental illness with only 40 percent receiving medical attention (Johnson & Meyer, n.d.) . The country has come a long way from the time it was utilizing asylums to take care of mentally ill patients to modern medical facilities that are more humane and utilize modern medical guidelines. In this analysis, we are going to look at some of the problems that are facing the behavioral healthcare system. A focus on both public and private behavioral healthcare facilities will be carried out to determine how both sectors have been impacting the behavioral health system. The idea is to check how much the system has been effective and the drawbacks that have been realized as the system tries to take care of patients. At the same time, a focus will be done on emerging trends in the private sector and how they align themselves with those in the public sector.
Notably, the behavioral healthcare system relies on learning from the past to realize better medical practices. The idea can be problematic in that the available behavioral healthcare centers have been in existence for a while. Most of them have been refurbished to meet modern medical demands. In this analysis, we will check how to transition from archaic medical practices when it comes to behavioral health that has been modernized to be supportive of modern medicine.
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Addressing the Behavioral Healthcare System
The US spends billions of money every year to address behavioral health. Such huge costs can be broken down into different aspects that are brought together to address the prevalence of behavioral health problems (Johnson & Meyer, n.d.) . For instance, 58% of the population, some 190 million people, are currently said to be suffering from a chronic condition (Johnson & Meyer, n.d.) . In this case, some conditions such as diabetes and heart attack have led to people developing chronic depression. As most of the behavioral conditions can be related to past or untreatable illnesses that a person has to live with, the country has been assured of a good number of psychologically disturbed people who account for as much as a quarter of the country’s population. Government efforts to provide a better environment and situations that look to address behavioral health conditions have come short (Johnson & Meyer, n.d.) . As such, the country has been left worse than it should be with more cases of people experiencing behavioral health concerns emerging every year. The problem to deal with this problem is not financial management but rather the rise of other chronic diseases that make people vulnerable to behavioral problems.
Studies carried out by different people and organizations show that behavioral health problems have increased the costs incurred when dealing with a mentally ill patient (Johnson & Meyer, n.d.) . For instance, it costs three times to treat a mentally ill person that it costs to treat a person who is not mentally ill. The difference is from the fact that mentally ill patients require all-round medical care that not only focuses on their physical wellbeing but also their mental state. The move to have mentally ill patients become well is directly connected to chronic illnesses as most mentally ill patients have chronic problems that require medical attention (Johnson & Meyer, n.d.) . As such, it has been hard for the behavioral healthcare system to come up with perfect models to treat models as it has been bombarded with different challenges that are proving equally challenging to address.
Challenges Facing the Behavioral Healthcare System
Cultural Division
The training that behavioral therapists acquire at school is not a direct reflection of how things in healthcare institutions are. For instance, a nurse who has been posted in a medical center with only the traditional expertise impacted in them in school can find it hard to cope with the realities of the society (Johnson & Meyer, n.d.) . As such, there are challenges when it comes to realizing medical success in behavioral health as a therapist lacks enough information about the field. At the same time, supportive the time a patient takes with a therapist determines how effective a psychological session can be. Due to a high number of mentally ill patients who require therapy, sessions have been short meaning that patients have been visiting medical facilities for long with less realization of healing. As such, incorporating what has been taught in schools to the real society has been problematic leaving the behavioral healthcare system volatile.
Lack of a Singular Treatment Model
Many hospitals have rushed to adopt new and efficient ways of addressing therapy. However, different situations that are being realized through the integration of mental illness treatment in normal health centers have proven that different environments call for different approaches (Johnson & Meyer, n.d.) . The need to separate mentally ill patients from other patients has been necessitated by the fact that there is a constant change in behavioral health in that it requires teamwork rather than individual specialists to help a patient. In that sense, many hospitals are finding it hard to incorporate behavioral healthcare programs that are supportive of normal healthcare programs.
The Inefficiency of Primary Care Increasing Physician Workload
Many physicians have been trained to have a specific approach when it comes to handling illnesses. However, behavioral healthcare requires a new system or program for every patient. Even though a singular causative factor can be found, it is hard to trace its effects on all patients at the same time. As such, physicians are being forced to work themselves extra harder to help patients especially when patients are not eager to share about their conditions (Johnson & Meyer, n.d.) . Public health demands also require new ways to deal with behavioral health. Cases of self-inflicted injury and suicides have been on the rise in the country meaning that primary care has been redefined in terms of addressing the foreseeable future and reducing the number of behavioral cases that are on the rise.
Lack of Enough Staff
As stated earlier, the number of people suffering from mental illness in the country at any given time is high. Cases of mental illness have also been on the rise which has put a strain on the available staff. Currently, the country and the behavioral healthcare system lack enough number of personnel who have been trained and can handle behavioral cases (Johnson & Meyer, n.d.) . The problems can be traced back in decades and it has led to the reduction in the quality of medical care offered in mental healthcare institutions. The problem means that many of the personnel offering mental healthcare services at any particular time lack enough capacity to care for the ever-increasing number of patients while making sure that those who have gone through the system do not get worse and revert to their previous states.
Financial Strains
It has been establishing that taking care of a patient who is suffering from mental illness costs more than taking care of a sane one. At this point, the government incurs significant costs when dealing with mentally ill patients as they require more attention than those who are not mentally ill ( Deakin, 2004) . Also, the failed integration of mental illness treatment in normal medical facilities has failed to the extent that the government has to provide new institutions for taking care of those who are mentally ill. The costs of buying equipment, paying therapists, and taking care of the needs of the patients are expected to keep on rising meaning that there will be problems when it comes to the realization of quality medical care for mentally ill patients ( Deakin, 2004) .
Current and Future Trends in Behavioral Health System
Technology and Mental Healthcare
Technology has been a major player in mental healthcare. Currently, there are millions of electronic gadgets such as phones, computers, and tablets that can be employed for progress monitoring either by a physician or by an individual ( Droppa & Luczak, 2004) . Information analyzed form such monitoring has been used to devise new models of patient treatment with significant success levels. At the same time, chances of mental illness getting worse have been minimized through the use of mobile mental health support. A person experiencing behavioral disorders can contact a crisis center and have help send to them instantly. The idea of the use of technology has reduced the costs the government and institutions were incurring in terms of data collection and patient monitoring ( Droppa & Luczak, 2004) . A therapist can even hold a session with their patient through electronic devices with the support of programs such as zoom and Skype and offer the same level of quality care to the patient as if they were holding a physical session.
Additionally, data storage and access have been revolutionized by the use of technology ( Droppa & Luczak, 2004) . It is easy for a patient who visits a medical facility to have their records pulled up in an instant and their medical history assessed to determine the level of medical care they deserve. As such, patients, no matter the medical institution they visit, are assured of quality health service. At the same time, therapists have had their jobs cut down for them through the integration of technology in therapy ( Droppa & Luczak, 2004) . As such, they have enough time to deal with more patients with less effort than it was before when physical presence was demanded all tasks from patient monitoring, assessment and record-keeping, and data retrieval. Expected future technologies with the development of new software and phone applications are expected to revolutionize modern technology and even streamline mental healthcare further.
Mental Healthcare Management
There are current healthcare management approaches that have been incorporated to streamline behavioral healthcare systems. For instance, there has been the incorporation of quality management teams and practices that determine the level of expertise required for a given medical program. Institutions have been able to determine the number of professionals needed to deal with a given case and have developed incentive structures that ensure professional service delivery. The programs have been able to rule out any redundant practices that do not maximize the efficiency of behavioral healthcare delivery. At the same time, there have been plans where payment of medical services will be based on the efficiency of service delivery. The idea has brought down discrepancies realized through cultural diversity where therapists were unable to command their skills in the shortest time possible. Currently, nurses and therapists can introduce new programs that quicken patient recovery while reducing the chances of a patient becoming mentally ill again.
Analysis of Private and Public Behavioral Healthcare Facilities
The country’s private medical sector has seen the full adoption of emerging trends in medicine. Such trends include the adoption of technologies that are used to help patients become better while looking for new ways to improve those technologies. The quality of medical service delivery has been high and most families who can afford medication in private medical facilities are opting for their service. The same cannot be said for public medical facilities whose adoption of new technology follows a defined way of doing things. For instance, public hospitals depend on federal funding and long approval processes that require reviews from different individuals or committees for it to be realized. As such, it is almost impossible to effectively incorporate technology in public hospitals.
Public facilities have a rigid management structure that is closely monitored by the authorities who dictate its operations. That means that the adoption of new management strategies is limited and can only occur at a certain capacity. Compared to private facilities, public facilities are finding it hard to cope which has affected the quality of service delivery is public medical facilities.
Behavioral Health Service Delivery in Both Public and Private Sector
The number of people in the US requiring medical attention from mental illness is on the rise which poses the challenge of determining whether it is possible to care for the mentally ill. The country has been spending billions of money to cater to the mentally ill. However, serving the population has been a challenge for both private and public facilities. Also, financial, cultural, and social barriers have ensured that the country lacks in terms of having a perfect behavioral healthcare system. With a projected doubling of the number of people having chronic diseases to around 83 million by 2050, the need for new treatment programs has been emphasized. Both the public and private sectors cannot cope with the increase in the number of patients who need medical attention at any given moment. As such, there is a need to revisit the underlying factors and finding out what exactly can be done to reduce the number of chronic illness cases in the country. As such, there is a need to invest in medical research rather than focusing only on treating mental illness when people become ill.
Additionally, both the private and public sectors are limited by the fact that there is no defined way of approaching behavioral health problems. That is, there is no singular form of treatment that can be followed to treat all cases of mental illness. As such, both sectors lack not only in handling unprecedented outcomes but also in making sure that when they are realized they are handled adequately. As such, both sectors will keep on struggling when it comes to dealing with behavioral health problems.
Conclusion
Current statistics are indicating that behavioral health problems are here with us to stay. Both federal and private efforts to handle such behavioral cases are limited to the reduction of medical costs and an increase in medical efficiency. The different challenges being faced by the behavioral healthcare system are hard to address. The fact that they have been around for decades shows just how much complex it is in behavioral healthcare operations. At the same time, a focus on new trends in medication should be emphasized if chances or realizing control over behavioral health problems it to be realized. The dedication put by both the government and the private sector to improve efficiency in service delivery when it comes to mental illness is an indication that all sectors are concerned about the mental state of the nation. Identifying and dealing with underlying factors such as chronic diseases is the key to realizing a breakthrough in behavioral healthcare. As such, both the public and private sectors will be having problems as long as the number of mentally ill patients keeps on increasing exponentially.
References
Deakin, A. (2004, November). Finding your organization's hidden treasure. Behavioral Health
Management, 24(6), 27-29.
Droppa, D., & Luczak, R. (2004, January). Collaboration, technology, and outcomes—A recipe
to improve service delivery. Behavioral Health Management, 24(1), 41-44.
Johnson, S., & Meyer, H. BEHAVIORAL HEALTH: FIXING A SYSTEM IN CRISIS .
Modernhealthcare.com. Retrieved 22 July 2020, from https://www.modernhealthcare.com/reports/behavioral-health/#!/.
