Future of Health Care 2020

THE FUTURE OF HEALTH CARE // BEHAVIORAL HEALTH
Behavioral health struggles a concern for young adults
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 18
to managing their emotions, and that
can be difficult for someone who is not
used to doing that,” Tevens said.
The 24/7 accessibility to work is
putting a lot more stress and pressure
on this group, said Lindsay Herndon,
director of outpatient services at
BryLin Behavioral Health System.
“They are so focused on their goals,
and what it takes to achieve them,
that’s just one more thing placed
on them,” Herndon said. “They are
caught up in life and afraid to look
like a failure.”
Shifting family dynamics and the
recent mounting bad news only adds
to the group’s anxiety.
Social isolation from the coronavirus
hasn’t made their situation any
easier. And they won’t seek help, she
said.
Contributing to their mental
problems is the Covid-19 impact on the
workforce. It is a shock particularly to
this age group with no work perspective,
said Kenneth Houseknecht, executive
director of Mental Health Advocates of
Western New York.
“Any employee 30 years or younger
has never worked in an economic
slowdown,” he said. “We’ve gone from
the lowest unemployment in February
to the highest since the Great Depression
in two months.”
Even before the challenges of
Covid-19, this young-adult age group
had the highest prevalence of mental,
behavioral or emotional disorder
among adults at about 26 percent,
according to a 2017 study by the
National Institute of Mental Health.
At the same time, the percentage
of this group who received mentalhealth
services, at 38 percent, was
lower than other adult groups, the
study found.
And yet, this group, more than any
other that came before, is attracted
to employers who are sensitive to the
mental health of their workers and
recognize the necessity of work-life
balance, Houseknecht said.
To attract and keep younger
employees, he said, the company culture,
philosophy and leaders need to
address the whole person, including
JOED VIERA
The Covid-19 crisis has shocked young adults, says Kenneth Houseknecht of the Mental Health Advocates of WNY.
mental health.
How that can take shape is to start
at a basic level, Roman said.
“We want the people we work for
to take an interest in us as individuals
and not as workers,” he said. “We
want an openness and transparency
and to make sure that our voices are
being heard.”
WORD FROM THE SPONSOR: SPECTRUM HEALTH & HUMAN SERVICES
Telehealth in Behavioral Health — Now and the Future
COVID-19 has generated an
immediate need for behavioral
health agencies to pivot to virtual
services options (telephonic or televideo)
to sustain critical mental health
and addiction services for those in
need. This includes at the provider
level virtual team meetings and
virtual supervision for clinicians who
are delivering services.
The loosening of regulations by
the State and Federal governments for
Medicaid and Medicare consumers,
as well as commercial insurance
companies waving copays for
telehealth services makes virtual
service delivery a viable alternative.
While most providers were
doing some telehealth, the need to
go completely virtual has placed
tremendous pressure on:
• Payers and regulators
• Getting consumers to accept the
new paradigm
• Need to train staff
Clinical professionals need formal
training to assure privacy, security
Bruce Nisbet is
President/CEO
of Spectrum
Health & Human
Services
and effectiveness
of treatment
delivered with
this new modality
(e.g. transfer of
skills from face to
face to virtual).
The consumer
adoption and
readiness is
variable. .Some
consumers seem
to like telephonic
counseling
and clinicians
report that in
many cases the consumers seem
more comfortable discussing their
challenges when it is not face to face
and telephonic or virtual. Other
consumers are much less comfortable
with one of the virtual approaches.
Other challenges that effect some
consumers is the availability of
sufficient telephone minutes for ongoing
telephonic counseling, capacity
of their phone to connect to video
telehealth or access to a computer
with internet access and privacy..
Advocacy by the State has helped
to have some phone and internet
providers allow unlimited minutes
for Medicaid and Medicare recipients
as well as more access to the internet.
This is critical so large numbers of
consumers in poverty can access
treatment services.
Payers are offering during this
crisis the following:
• Waving cost sharing for innetwork,
non-COVID-19 behavioral
health visits
• Waivers are in place until May or
June 2020
• Video and telephonic visits
allowed
• New billing codes to support
these changes
With over 25% of the country’s
workforce unemployed, research
(Kaiser Family Foundation April
Health Tracking Poll) shows that
job loss is associated with increased
depression, anxiety, distress, and low
self-esteem and may lead to higher
rates of substance use disorder and
suicide. The polling data shows that
more than half of the people who
lost income or employment reported
negative mental health impacts from
worry or stress over coronavirus; and
lower income people report higher
rates of major negative mental health
impacts compared to higher income
people.
In addition to the job loss burden
effecting behavioral health needs,
the effect of social isolation due to
mandatory stay at home orders is
also contributing to mental health
challenges. The Kaiser Poll referenced
above found that 47% of those
sheltering in place reported negative
mental health effects resulting from
worry or stress related to coronavirus.
With these new stressors on our
community population, telehealth is
the key for access to behavioral health
treatment. The future of behavioral
healthcare will have telehealth
become a major vehicle to provide
services to overcome current and
new challenges and increasingly the
preference of consumers.
22 THE FUTURE OF HEALTH CARE BUFFALO BUSINESS FIRST