Mercy Health – Cincinnati, which provides advanced, quality, compassionate care in your neighborhood through its care network, announces that after just one year in operation, the Behavioral Health Institute (BHI) at Clermont Hospital is providing Greater Cincinnati with expanded access to much needed mental health services and exceeding national quality benchmarks.
The BHI offers both inpatient and outpatient care in a beautifully renovated, safety-conscious space and uses a recovery-based model that sees patients serve as active participants in their own recovery.
The BHI employs two psychiatrists and a staff of more than 60 nurses, social workers, therapists and technicians. They are credentialed with top-of-scope licenses and board-certified in their areas of expertise whenever possible. The BHI uses the most effective, proven treatment protocols to ensure that all who use its services, including the poor and under-served at the heart of Mercy Health’s mission, have access to the best possible care.
“Mercy Health’s Behavioral Health Institute at Clermont Hospital offers a contemporary care environment and high caliber clinical model with the most modern and effective treatment programs available. Our clinical outcomes consistently exceed national benchmarks for excellence across a variety of measures, including pre- and post-treatment functional assessment and quality of life measures, including the Outcomes Questionnaire 30, which is among the most validated and researched quality of life tool,” said psychiatrist Larry Graham, MD, Interim President – Mercy Health Behavioral Health Institute.
“At the same time, our patient satisfaction is high and our patients are getting better in functional ways you can measure. For example, the length of stay of the average inpatient increased by two days. We’ve done this intentionally to provide a more appropriate ‘dose’ of treatment and we’ve seen it lead to increased stability, reduced readmission risk and better quality-of-life for our patients.”
While a great deal of effort has been put into renovating the inpatient environment of care and the treatment program the BHI offers, the BHI also works with patients to catch potential behavioral health issues early and before the patient may need an inpatient stay. For example, the full behavioral health continuum offered by Mercy Health’s BHI extends into outpatient services, such as the five-days-per-week Partial Hospitalization Program (PHP) and the three-mornings-per-week Intensive Outpatient Program (IOP). Both the PHP and IOP services are direct access points for patients from the community seeking intensive behavioral health services and are also frequently utilized as step-down services for patients discharging from the inpatient program.
Further, the Behavioral Access Center (BAC) in Clermont Hospital’s Emergency Department serves as a resource where patients need it most. Staffed 24/7, the BAC employs trained and certified psychiatric nurses and social workers who perform evaluations that help them determine the best location and program to treat the patient.
The BHI serves the entire Mercy Health system in Cincinnati and can accept patients from other Mercy Health hospitals and medical centers. For more information on available services, please call 513-735-7382 for Outpatient Services.
Mercy Health’s commitment to behavioral health extends to its physician practices. Mercy Health announced in October that it had added to the number of primary care physician practices also featuring a behavioral health consultant as part of the care team available to patients.
Seven different Mercy Health Physician primary care offices now have one of four behavioral health consultants available to address any behavioral health issue that prevents patients from achieving their self-management goals and improving their health. Behavioral health consultants are doctoral-level psychologists who can treat patients suffering from mental health concerns such as depression and anxiety and also consult on medical treatment for chronic illnesses such as diabetes, COPD, pain and sleep disorders, among others. These in-practice additions expand access to behavioral services to more than 50,000 patients. Mercy Health is planning to expand the number of Behavioral Health Consultants to six to serve patients in a total of 12 medical practices in 2016.
Also, Mercy Health announced in October that it has entered into an affiliation agreement with BrightView, which provides patient-focused, evidence-based chemical dependency treatment in Cincinnati.