Latest / Becker's Healthcare Behavioral Health / Renee Rafferty, Senior Vice President of Behavioral Health at Children's Nebraska

Transcript

Renee Rafferty, Senior Vice President of Behavioral Health at Children's Nebraska · Becker's Healthcare Behavioral Health

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  events page. See you in Chicago.
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  This is Laura Dirdle with the Becker's Healthcare
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  podcast.
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  I'm thrilled today to be joined by Renee
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  Rafferty, senior vice president of behavioral health at
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  Children's Nebraska. Renee, it's a pleasure to have
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  you on the podcast today.
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  Oh, thank you so much for inviting. I'm
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  really excited to be here and to to
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  share more about,
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  behavioral health.
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  Absolutely. And one important topic today, I know
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  behavioral health is such a huge issue for
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  many hospitals and health systems across the country.
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  But in particular,
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  we've seen a light being shown on, pediatric
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  in child behavioral health and mental health as
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  well over the last few years, which is
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  so important. So I'm looking forward to learning
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  more about what you're doing at Children's Nebraska.
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  But before we dive in, can you tell
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  us a little bit more about yourself and
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  your background?
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  Absolutely.
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  So I'm a trauma therapist by background. I've
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  spent the last
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  20 years or over 20 years in a
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  leadership role, and I became a leader a
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  behavioral health leader because of my passion for
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  improving access to care
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  and integrating behavioral health care into all settings.
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  My and my longest role at Providence Health
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  and Services,
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  leading the Alaska region, I was able to
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  support expansion of services for both youth and
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  adult. For youth specifically, developing
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  a adolescent residential treatment center that specialized in
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  treating trauma, implementing substance abuse disorder pathway
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  with medical centers for adults, integrating mental health
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  services in schools, and expanding
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  best practice for crisis care.
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  I've been working with Children's Nebraska
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  because of the compelling vision of the executive
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  team led by Nebraska CEO,
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  Chanda Chacon,
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  who's truly investing
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  in our community and vision for expanding access
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  to behavioral health care.
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  Well, that's amazing to hear. You know? And
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  I know there's a lot of work to
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  be done in this space. So for you
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  at Children's Nebraska, what are the opportunities and
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  headwinds that you have your eye on right
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  now?
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  It's a really exciting time to be a
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  part of the health care industry.
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  We have a chance to change the system
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  of care. There's such a need for prevention
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  and intervention that's been growing even before the
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  pandemic.
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  We know that right now approximately 20% of
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  children have been diagnosed with mental health conditions
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  in the United States.
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  But, really, we know that estimated
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  number is far larger than that, and it's
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  a time for organizations to really double down
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  on expanding both vertical and horizontal
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  care. And Children's Nebraska has taken this opportunity
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  to partner and to really build a state
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  of the art center.
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  The Mental Health Innovation Foundation,
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  Ken Simpson, is a local philanthropy,
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  and he has,
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  been able to garner community support and raise
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  over a $110,000,000
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  to,
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  build the behavioral health and wellness center. And
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  it's going to be a state of the
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  art facility that has a strong continuum of
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  care. So, really, the you we have primary
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  care prevention, screening, and early intervention inside the
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  center as well as that urgent and crisis
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  care for families and youth that are struggling.
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  So you can walk in one door and
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  either get that primary care or get that
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  crisis intervention urgent support for either mental health
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  or substance use disorder, aligning with that best
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  practice.
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  And then, also, within the facility, if you
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  need that more acute care, we have partial
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  hospitalization
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  and inpatient for use,
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  38 beds. So you can see that there's
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  a real expansion of services that will benefit
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  the state of Nebraska. It's really exciting to
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  see that the community
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  partnership and the local leaders in recognizing the
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  importance, but also,
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  the executive team at Children's Nebraska recognizing the
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  the the true opportunity
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  to to change the system of care.
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  That's great to hear, and really,
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  cool things that you have been rolling out
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  to expand that access to care and really
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  make sure you're working with the communities.
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  Now how are you thinking about growth and
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  adding value to Children's Nebraska overall going forward?
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  I think of behavioral health as being an
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  organizational wide approach, and it's so important right
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  now for us to create strategic vision
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  and invest
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  in specialty,
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  care and ensuring that they have, care as
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  well as primary care embedded inside
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  the delivery system. Gone are the days that
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  we can opt out of behavioral health care
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  and imagine that, you know, funding challenges prevent
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  health care from from opting in. Really, all
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  organizations
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  need to be changing the delivery system,
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  and it's important,
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  you know, to to imagine that really early
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  intervention
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  and,
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  community access to care reduces the cost of
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  care.
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  So we'll get there by educating and supporting
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  all of our leaders in growing mental health
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  acumen. CEOs, CFOs, executive teams
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  need to understand trauma informed care and ways
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  to intervene early. I'll give you an example
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  of how we're doing that at Children's Nebraska.
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  We're creating a safety and well-being focus that
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  integrates care early to prevent agitation and escalation.
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  And it comes from
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  a a true approach of all disciplines,
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  learning how to recognize agitation early
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  and put the resources in the right place
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  at the right time. And this allows for,
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  resilience, well-being of not only the patients, but
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  also for,
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  the staff. And I think when you see
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  that organization wide approach of bringing behavioral health
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  in and and training the leaders and and
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  ensuring that,
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  that education is there, we're going to transform
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  the system of care.
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  That
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  was really cool to hear and think about.
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  And, certainly, as you mentioned, from the c
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  suites down to the whole executive level,
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  seeing what results that trauma informed care can
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  have,
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  makes a big difference.
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  When you are making that transition and connecting
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  with the broader executive team, how do you
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  emphasize the importance with this, in what ways
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  do you really make sure you're communicating on
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  a,
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  on that level so that they understand the
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  importance and why, you know, making that investment
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  could really make a big difference for them?
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  I think first is getting everybody trained in
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  trauma informed care. When you use that lens,
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  it helps you to really predict and to
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  understand what's best for patient and what's best
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  for the staff member. Those things are really
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  intrinsically linked. And so the opportunity for either,
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  the right clinician or the right resource,
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  becomes very visible to the leader. So that's
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  a great opportunity. I think also what you've
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  seen here and you've seen in many other
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  organization is really elevating behavioral health leadership to
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  be a part of the discussion
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  everywhere, and I think that helps so that
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  the expertise is there, whether it's with physicians
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  or nursing
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  or with,
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  within inside the,
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  leadership team, it it helps
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  to gain that organizational
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  conversation
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  that asks the question, what is what's needed
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  here, for the patient to have the best
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  outcome?
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  That is truly great to hear and helpful
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  information. Now, you know, when you think about,
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  moving ahead, I know hospital health system finances
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  are are tight right now. And so, you
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  know, broadly, what are some of the things
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  that you feel are still a really good
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  risk or investment worth making over the next
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  year given, you know, for for some of
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  our listeners and broader audience, they might have
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  a little bit tighter of a budget than
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  they would otherwise have?
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  A couple of things come to mind. The
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  first is leveraging
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  infrastructure to to take on new innovative technologies
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  that are going to be coming in over
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  the next 10 years. I think we're gonna
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  see a real explosion of that.
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  An example right now is that we have
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  an innovation center that has partnered with Steelcase,
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  Logitech, and Ocular to launch a holographic telehealth
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  service.
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  And this is the first and currently only
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  organization to have this type of service. It's
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  innovative
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  for patients and families to receive point to
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  point care with a holographic display on each
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  side. It just removes the noise and distraction
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  sound in the typical web conferencing systems used
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  in telehealth. So it brings that human led
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  focus and a warm personal touch to telehealth.
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  We wanna be ready to adopt these things
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  as they come, and it's really will expand
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  access to care,
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  as well as offer really new ways to,
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  to heal.
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  And another area that I think is really
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  important to invest in is is bringing a
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  diverse workforce
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  into the behavioral health system. And that comes
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  from investing in scholarships and in training,
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  reaching into the community, spending time educating about
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  paths of care that they can participate in.
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  They can be behavioral specialists. They can go
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  into advanced nurse practitioners.
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  They can be peer support. Really making sure
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  that,
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  our youth
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  understand how they can deliver in a sense
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  of purpose in their career by engaging in
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  behavioral
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  health. There's such a shortage. We need to
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  be out there spending and investing in getting
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  that visibility and making sure people have the
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  resources they need to join the workforce.
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  That makes a lot of sense. And, you
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  know, it it's really great to have that
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  type of emphasis and investment on the people
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  who are making the difference, the workforce, and
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  then to just having the technology,
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  open and available, I I think is a
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  good call. Now before we wrap up here,
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  I'm wondering where do you see the best
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  opportunities for growth in the future? What are
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  you emphasizing
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  at Children's Nebraska?
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  We're really investing and pushing the delivery systems
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  into the community and ensuring that the point
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  of care is where families and and and
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  children are. So that
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  right now is this focus on integrating mental
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  health into the school system.
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  We would need to make that ease of
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  access there and integrating clinicians, but also just
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  creating the visibility and importance of mental health
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  wherever we go. We need mental health services
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  inside the schools so kids can see that
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  seeking intervention early
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  is part of just our culture and also
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  that prevents the progression of diseases
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  and helps the families to really develop resiliency
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  and wellness practices too.
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  And and that, I think is going to
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  transform our future when when people access care
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  early, can talk about them their mental health
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  as a part of,
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  whole person health and,
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  decreasing stigma. So it's very exciting to see
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  that many,
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  many states and organizations are investing back in
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  those services being truly integrated at the point
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  the community needs them the most.
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  That's amazing to hear. Renee, thank you so
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  much for joining us on the podcast today.
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  This has been a fascinating discussion, and I
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  look forward to connecting with you again soon.
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  Thank you so much. Such a great discussion.