The CDC reports that in June 2020 there were as many American adults who have seriously contemplated suicide as there are Americans with diabetes (Czeisler et al., 2020). While the adult suicide rate in Montana is consistently double the national level (Loveland, 2016). Behavioral Health Consulting Solutions was founded with the goal of discovering innovative ways to address the suicide epidemic. BHCS intends to accomplish this through improved assessment/screening practices, maximizing health information technology, integration of the most current research, targeted interventions, diverse professional experience, and emphasis on continual process improvement.
To address the rise in significant mental health issues we have made a consistent effort to improve our ability to accurately identify behavioral health conditions using a variety of structured and evidence-based instruments. BHCS uses a bundled assessment approach that includes 12 total screening tools. Nine of the tools are evidence-based, while the three tools developed by our team provide important family, medication, and developmental histories.
Patients complete the screening process before they are scheduled for an assessment. Once the tools have been received clinician completes a data analysis and chart/ancillary information review. The data is cross referenced with information in the chart or other records and current peer-reviewed research is consulted if indicated by the data/review.
During the assessment targeted questioning based on chart/ancillary information review, data, and research is used to pull apart several possible conditions. Following the assessment, the clinician has thorough discussion of diagnosis with the patient to help destigmatize the diagnosis. The patient is also provided information on diagnosis in a format that is easy to understand.
The assessment layout was designed to be easily digestible for non-behavioral health professionals with all important information front-loaded at the top of the assessment. We strongly believe that our efforts to refine this process have increased the likelihood that patients are correctly diagnosed and receive appropriate treatment.
BHCS has partnered with our sister company Behavioral Health Technology Innovations (covered more in a later post) to utilize their Seidr Software that allows us to triage behavioral health patients through evidence-based screening tools and composite/risk scoring system. It automatically suggests diagnostic lines of questioning for behavioral conditions based on screening tool scores. The software also provides an option for caseload tracking utilizing evidence-based tools that can be sent to our patients.
Scholars suggest that there is a significant gap between the healthcare that patients receive and the practice that is recommended. It is estimated that it sometimes takes more than a decade to implement research results in clinical practice and that it is often hard to maintain innovations over time (Kristensen et al., 2015). We believe that implementation of the most up to date research is crucial for patients, to ensure that they receive the best care available.
BHCS incorporates the latest research into all of our process improvement initiatives. Medical and behavioral scientific advancements are increasing at an exponential rate, leading to new discoveries and treatments. To practice with the thoroughness that defines our standard of care it requires staying in touch with the latest research developments to inform our processes.
Our team delivers data-informed treatment to target interventions and consistent utilization of PHQ-9, GAD-7, PCL-5, and WHO-5 screening tools to track patient response to interventions. Several team members are trained in highly evidence-based treatment modalities like Moral Reconation Therapy (MRT), Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT), and Motivational Interviewing (MI).
One of BHCS's founders, Jay Getten LCPC/LMFT, is a skilled clinician with experience in multiple healthcare settings working with some of the most acute populations. He started his behavioral health career at a community mental health center where he worked as a youth/adult case manager, day treatment supervisor, in-home family therapist, and traditional outpatient therapist. Over the last five years he has worked as a behavioral health consultant embedded with primary care teams at a tribal health center and two FQHCs. His work in the integrated care field has earned appreciation from his peers. In 2019 he was invited to present at the Montana Healthcare Foundation's Integrated Behavioral Health Summit at Montana State University. Prior to his career in behavioral health, he taught special education. His experience includes teaching a self-contained autism classroom in Salt Lake City and resource classroom in rural Montana. Jay is currently seeking his doctorate in healthcare administration with an emphasis in integrated care program development.
BHCS will begin providing services via telehealth the second week of January 2022.
We currently accept Medicaid, BlueCross and BlueShield, Allegiance, Cigna, EBMS, and MTN Health Co-op. We are in the credentialing process and will update the site as we add payers. In the meantime, we will accept out of pocket payments and are open to contracting with organizations.
Czeisler, M. É., Lane, R. I., Petrosky, E., Wiley, J. F., Christensen, A., Njai, R., Weaver, M. D., Robbins, R., Facer-Childs, E. R., Barger, L. K., Czeisler, C. A., Howard, M. E., &Rajaratnam, S. M. (2020). Mental health, substance use, and suicidal ideation during thecovid-19 pandemic — united states, june 24-30, 2020. MMWR. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, 69(32), 1049-1057. Link
Kristensen, N., Nymann, C., & Konradsen, H. (2015). Implementing research results in clinical practice- the experiences of healthcare professionals. BMC Health Services Research, 16(1). Link
Loveland, K. (2016). Integrated behavioral health in montana: A baseline assessment of
benefits, challenges, and opportunities. Link