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Expanding Access and Empowering Clinicians in Behavioral Health with Dr. Priyanka of Mindpath Health · Becker's Healthcare Behavioral Health

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  This is Riley Wilson with the Becker's Healthcare
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  podcast. I'm thrilled to be joined today by
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  doctor Priyanka. She is chief medical officer for
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  MindPath Health. Thank you so much for being
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  here today. Before we jump into our conversation,
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  doctor Priyanka, I'd love to have you introduce
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  yourself and tell us a little bit more
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  about MindPath Health.
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  Hi, Riley. Really excited to be here today
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  with you. I am
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  a practicing psychiatrist at MindPath Health for last
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  twelve years.
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  I also have the privilege of serving as
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  the chief medical officer for last five years
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  of the organization,
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  and we are an outpatient mental health organization
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  that serves patients in about six states across
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  the country.
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  To share just a little bit about myself,
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  I would share that I did not start
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  out by thinking that I would, be picking
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  psychiatry as a field during medical school, but
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  some things happened along the way that kind
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  of increased my curiosity.
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  And one of the biggest fascination I had
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  was about how little mental health care was
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  valued back when I was training.
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  And the fact that not many people were
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  paying attention,
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  and it just got me more interested and
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  excited to look deeper, and I started liking
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  what I was seeing, and I just went
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  for it.
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  And as I was finishing up my residency
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  program,
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  I was clear on one thing that I
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  wanted to work in an outpatient setting is
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  building relationship and seeing patients.
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  Over months to years was really interesting to
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  me to see their progress and growth over
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  that period of time, and I could see
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  myself thriving in that environment.
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  So luckily, I found a job that gave
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  me that kind of fertile ground to play
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  in and not have to worry about day
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  to day decisions and running off an office.
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  So I could really spend majority of my
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  time working on patient care aspect and just
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  working with patients every day. So it helped
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  me early in my career and also helped
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  shape my point of view as a clinical
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  leader on what is essential for the clinical
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  workforce when their day to day is absorbed
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  so much by patient care. So I kind
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  of really enjoy that aspect of my work
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  now.
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  Great. Well, thank you again for being here
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  today. I wanna start off by asking you
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  what the opportunities and headwinds you have your
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  eye on right now are.
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  That is the most interesting question that I
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  think a lot of us are trying to
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  answer these days.
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  I would pick one of the most biggest
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  and basic needs still. So,
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  access remains the biggest and the most most
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  basic need on any given day. So meeting
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  the growing demand for mental health services is
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  still the biggest challenge that we are addressing.
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  And as we are seeing that more and
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  more people are asking for services because there's
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  more awareness, there's more understanding,
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  the the supply of mental health professionals
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  is not growing up with that level.
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  So for us, the opportunities,
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  lie in multiple areas. Number one, continuing to
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  recruit quality clinicians and providing them with strong
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  operational and administrative support so they can all
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  function at a high level and spend majority
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  of their time in clinical care.
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  Second is technological advancements to ensure that patients
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  have an easier way to access services.
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  And then the third one and, of course,
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  there are more, but here are the three
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  that I have picked. So the third one
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  is working to expand access not only geographically,
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  but also to specialty areas like women's mental
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  health, geriatrics,
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  child and adolescent population
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  in a differentiated
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  way. So we are serving those patient populations
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  with more expertise and experience.
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  And, of course, all of this has to
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  be paired with what the headwinds are, and
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  we recognize that our work requires
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  close partnership with health plans.
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  And it's also greatly affected by regulatory
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  challenges.
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  So as we experience changes in kind of
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  socioeconomic
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  environment, geopolitical environment,
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  there's likely to be some negative impact on
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  the field of mental health.
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  One of the biggest things that we watch
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  out for is coverage for mental health services.
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  It's crucial for our patients. It's crucial for
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  our business.
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  And the work we do, you know, if
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  it's limited by coverage,
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  of patients, then it is not going to
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  be a positive move for the industry. So
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  we work with our peer partners on on
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  that side of the work to make sure
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  that we continue to provide high quality care
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  to a larger sector of patient population that
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  has insurance coverage.
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  And the other most important
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  impactful potential handprint would be rollback of telemedicine
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  flexibilities.
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  We had lot of flexibilities
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  during pandemic come through, which was very difficult
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  initially for a lot of clinicians and patients
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  to adapt. But once we adapted to all
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  of those changes,
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  I feel that it's working fantastically well.
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  We saw more people being able to access
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  services in last five years than otherwise would
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  have had no access. Flexibilities
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  and
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  continue to
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  flexibilities and continue to enhance and expand access
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  for patients.
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  Great. You
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  mentioned, you know, the opportunities
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  that you see in technological advancement and in
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  specialty care. I'm hoping we can go a
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  little deeper. How are you thinking about growth
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  and and adding value at MindPath Health?
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  So we are focused on patient journey,
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  at MindPath Health quite a lot. We
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  know that in the space of mental health,
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  it takes a patient on average of about
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  one to two years
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  to feel ready to get access to care.
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  And then if they are not able to
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  gain access quickly, they are likely to fall
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  back into the same pattern and actually not
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  come out and seek care.
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  So what we are trying to do with
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  technology
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  is see how we can ease that journey.
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  If a patient is having to click,
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  20 times, 30 times, 40 times to schedule
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  an appointment online,
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  can we reduce the number of clicks?
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  Can we optimize the amount of information they
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  have to give ahead of time before they
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  can gain access to an appointment?
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  Can we show them more options and opportunities
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  to be scheduled at the time
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  and at the day on the day that
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  they would like to be seen?
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  So patient journey is very important in terms
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  of making sure that patients
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  are able to see all the choices,
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  able to gain access quickly,
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  and able to see what their feedback is
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  able to provide in terms of,
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  taking care of their needs in a timely
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  way.
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  So we are working on technologically
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  easing patient journey in ways that we have
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  seen being a problem in recent past.
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  And when we think about specialty clinics, we
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  see a lot of patients seeking care in
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  areas that when you go for training, you
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  have general psychiatry training being provided in at
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  different places, different institutions, at different licensures.
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  But specialty care is one of those areas
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  where you do need a little bit more
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  enhanced training
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  and or experience.
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  So we have started working on identifying clinicians
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  in the organization
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  that have one or both of those things
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  in their background
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  and being able to create a a cohort
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  of clinicians who then are able to provide
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  services to that particular patient population
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  in a differentiated way because they have the
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  experience and expertise.
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  And then also supporting those clinicians with professional
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  growth opportunities.
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  So we have clinicians who provide
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  access, for women's mental health. Can we get
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  the membership in organizations
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  that provide support?
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  They offer,
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  conferences. They offer growth opportunities for clinicians to
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  learn and stay up to date on what's
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  happening in that particular area. So those are
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  kind of some of the things that we
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  are doing to make sure that we are
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  advancing
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  those
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  two fields.
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  Great. Well, it sounds like you're investing a
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  lot in your staff right now, but I'm
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  curious, you know, what is one particular ref
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  risk or investment you think is worth making
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  this year?
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  I wish it was as, you know, complicated
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  as sometimes things can be, but right now,
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  I would pick another
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  simple thing, clinician well-being.
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  It's a big area of focus and definitely
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  an area of investment for us because,
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  like I mentioned earlier,
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  patient
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  demand is not matching up with clinician supply
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  at this point of time. So we're far
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  behind in that area.
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  So this is not just a problem this
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  year, but will remain an area worth focusing
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  on for the coming years for us.
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  We have to make sure that this mismatch
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  does not lead to further burnout and problems
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  in our clinician population.
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  So we have to find ways to support
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  our clinician base. We we at Mind Path
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  Health work very hard on maintaining and enhancing
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  a healthy work environment,
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  provide professional growth opportunities, and a better work
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  life balance.
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  Because in health care in general, clinician well-being
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  is an issue, but in mental health care
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  in particular,
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  because of vicarious trauma and because of things
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  that,
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  people choose this this field for a work
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  life balance, better work life balance than they
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  would in other areas,
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  kind of
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  makes this population vulnerable for further
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  burnout.
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  So we have to be very careful in
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  making sure that our clinician base, clinician population
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  is taken care of so they can continue
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  to provide that high quality care.
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  Yeah. I know that, you know, work life
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  balance in and clinician wellness is such a
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  huge priority for so many leaders across behavioral
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  health right now. Curious if you can say
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  a little bit more about, you know, what
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  are those particular,
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  investments or initiatives that you're looking at when
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  it comes to supporting your providers?
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  So we have created
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  a a quality platform in terms of making
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  sure we explain the why to the clinicians.
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  When we are asking them to do certain
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  things a certain way, we go out and
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  explain the why behind it. As you can
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  imagine, clinicians are so used to their workflows.
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  They are,
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  at times resistant to change because any change
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  in their workflow
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  leads to more burnout, leads to a change
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  in the way they think about their day.
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  Seeing patients back to back can be very
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  challenging if there are changes in the workflow.
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  So we try our best to make sure
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  that we explain the why. We support the
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  team.
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  We have amazing
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  operational support
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  in ways where
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  we wrap our arms around clinicians,
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  make them believe they're part of the team,
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  and the change is good for everyone including
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  clinicians,
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  patients, and other stakeholders in the in the
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  workplace.
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  And we have had great success with that.
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  And then we try to create opportunities for
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  clinicians where they can do a bit more
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  than just seeing patients every day. As we
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  imagine, this is this is a requirement. This
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  is a need for the industry where we
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  have to see patients. We we are expanding
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  access, trying to fit in as many patients
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  as we can get. But at the end
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  of the day, a lot of clinicians look
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  for a variety in their day to day
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  life, and they wanna do more things. So
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  providing those opportunities to clinicians,
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  whether it is by contributing to to media,
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  articles or publications
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  or whether it is presenting,
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  grand rounds or
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  practice management seminars,
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  whether it is being part of specialty clinics.
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  So those are the opportunities we are creating
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  for clinicians to be able to expand
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  their scope of work so they can enjoy
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  patient care more and not feel burdened by
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  it.
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  Great. Well, my last question for you today
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  is where do you see the best opportunities
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  for growth in the future?
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  There are different ways I would answer this
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  question. So there are definitely things that we
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  can grow into.
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  But by focusing and empowering our teams
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  is the biggest area of growth for me.
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  Because
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  when you're providing patient care,
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  you have to make sure that you have
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  a happy and healthy clinician base and happy
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  and healthy team that supports that clinician base.
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  So at MindPath Health, we are always committed
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  to ensuring that not only that we're providing
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  high quality care, that we're measuring clinical outcomes,
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  seeking patient feedback, and providing thought leadership in
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  the space.
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  By doing that, we're gonna enhance the the
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  industry, the the field of mental health.
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  And another way to create
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  opportunity and value is by creating strong relationships
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  with our partners
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  where health systems, health plans, medical groups, universities,
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  and even employers
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  can partner with agencies like us to ensure
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  that they're
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  getting the best care possible.
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  And then the other areas that I would
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  identify as opportunities for growth are mostly related
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  to what should be happening in the future,
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  but we have not seen as much advancement
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  in is digital therapeutics,
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  interventional psychiatry programs,
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  better integration of mental health and physical health
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  care,
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  and just basic technology advancements to ensure patient
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  and clinician journey
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  is is
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  getting better over time. Again, like I mentioned
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  earlier,
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  less barriers to accessing care for clinicians. It's
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  less barriers to being able to document their
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  work quickly and effectively.
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  So
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  part AI will play a big part in
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  that, and we are currently
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  piloting a project,
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  at MyPath Health to see how our clinicians
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  adopt the new technology,
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  what benefits they are able to see, what
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  downsides there might be, and how we can
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  mitigate those risks to be able to provide
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  those things to to our clinicians.
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  So there there this is an exciting time
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  to be in the field of mental health,
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  so we are very excited about it. And
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  there's a lot to do.
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  So the goal that we continue to remind
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  ourselves is to to be focused on picking
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  next one or two things that we can
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  work on very diligently before we pick the
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  the third or the fourth thing.
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  Great. Well, thank you so much, doctor Priyanka,
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  for joining us today, and we hope to
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  have you back on again soon.
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  Thank you so much, Riley.