Implementation of Suicide Risk Prevention in an Integrated Delivery System:
Friday 2:30 – 3:45 Breakout C2
Presenter: Bradley Steinfeld Ph.D.
Bradley Steinfeld, Group Health Cooperative
Suicide is the major safety concern for patients who are seen in behavioral health specialty settings yet nearly half of the individuals who died by suicide visited their primary care physician in the preceding month. The National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention has identified essential dimensions of suicide prevention for health care organizations. This symposium will describe the experience of Group Health Cooperative in applying these dimensions in developing a systematic approach to suicide prevention in both mental health specialty and primary care settings. Focus will be on how to implement suicide prevention processes of care that are both effective and efficient within high volume mental health specialty and primary care practices. Strategies for leveraging data, electronic medical records and engaging both front line staff and organizational leadership will also be shared.
Implementation of Suicide Risk Prevention in Mental Health Specialty: Where it all Starts
Friday 2:30 – 3:45 Breakout C2
Presenter: Bradley Steinfeld MA
Sarah Stuckey, Group Health Cooperative
Given that suicide is the major safety risk for patients with psychiatric disorders, mental health clinicians will report that suicide risk prevention is a routine part of their practice. Yet, this has been found to not consistently occur in usual practice. This presentation will describe the experience of group health behavioral health services in transitioning to a mental health specialty practice where suicide risk prevention became a routine practice for every patient at every visit. Focus will be on how patient and stakeholder feedback was integrated within research findings to develop processes of care that were able to be easily integrated into clinician’s current practice. Strategies and data that address how suicide risk prevention was incorporated into the routine management of care within behavioral health specialty clinics will also be shared.
Role of the Integrated Behavioral Health Consultant in Suicide Risk Prevention: Where it all Ends
Friday 2:30 – 3:45 Breakout C2
Presenter: Zandy Harlin
Tory Gildred, LICSW, CDP, Group Health Cooperative
The integrated behavioral health consultant given their mental health expertise and role within the primary care team are in a unique position to help address suicide risk prevention in primary care. This presentation will describe how suicide risk prevention is incorporated within this role both within urgent care as well as primary care settings at Group Health. Key issues to be addressed include the process of cultural transformation of medical social workers into integrated behavioral health consultants and how to leverage strategic initiatives within primary care (i.e. the patient centered medical home) to enhance suicide risk prevention. How to incorporate suicide risk prevention into universal mental health screening as well as the role of the integrated behavioral health consultant in increasing the competencies of health care providers in conducting suicide risk assessment will also be discussed.
Implementation of Suicide Risk Prevention in Primary Care: A New Frontier
Friday 2:30 – 3:45 Breakout C2
Presenter: Fredric Shepard M.D.
Frederic Shepard MD, Group Health Cooperative; Zandrea Harlin MPH, RN-BC
Implementation of suicide risk prevention in primary care presents unique challenges given the complexity of primary care practice in terms of addressing multiple patient care needs in a limited time frame. Given that context, what are appropriate expectations for the primary care team in conducting suicide risk prevention? What is the role of the primary care physician? What is the role of nursing and ancillary staff? The presentation will provide the audience with a foundational understanding of what occurs within a primary care practice and the steps Group Health has taken to incorporate suicide risk prevention into primary care including the leveraging of existing behavioral health screening tools within primary care along with enhancing collaborative relationships both with behavioral health specialty care and integrated behavioral health consultants