Improving Access to Behavioral Healthcare: Themes and Resources from TAG Digital Health Society

Improving Access to Behavioral Healthcare: Themes and Resources from TAG Digital Health Society

Updated: Mar 31

Dr. Nick Allen was honored to join a panel of esteemed panelists on March 17th to discuss technology-enabled behavioral health. This event brought to light several thought-provoking themes and insightful resources, which are highlighted below. The conversation centers on a shared mission of Health Equity, especially in treating mental health on par physical health, as well as a shared optimism for progress with increased adoption of digital solutions Please be sure to review our discussion points, resources, and learn about our fellow panel members and moderator!

Watch the full conversation here!

Emerging themes from the discussion

• Better engagement is critical to improving behavioral health; techniques like people-centered design with a recovery focus can help yield solutions that people will want to use
• More focus is needed on ensuring evidence-based treatments are embedded in the rapidly growing number of digital behavioral health innovations
• Digital innovation has created unprecedented, immediate access to peer support, with invaluable benefits to both the recipient and the peer specialist
• Data collection and ongoing assessment should be central to any digital behavioral health tool or system to enable continuous improvement and evidence-based, high-quality care
• Value-based care is crucial to aligning the incentives for the adoption of digital behavioral health tools
• Destigmatizing behavioral health needs to continue to be a priority in order for access challenges to be overcome and full scale to be achieved

Additional resources and articles on behavioral health

• A new article and accompanying video – “Unlocking whole person care through behavioral health” and “The future of behavioral health”
• A new interactive tool, “Tracking US behavioral health service use during COVID-19” in partnership with McKinsey’s COVID Response Center (CRC), and an accompanying infographic, “Insights on utilization of behavioral health services in the context of COVID-19”
• The Effortless Assessment of Risk States (EARS) Tool: An Interpersonal Approach to Mobile Sensing
• Using Mobile Sensing Data to Assess Stress: Associations with Perceived and Lifetime Stress, Mental Health, Sleep, and Inflammation
• Mental Health Trends and COVID-19
• Technology and the Future of Mental Health Treatment
• Mental Wellness and Technology: Rethinking the Relationship

About our Fellow Panelists

Nicholas Allen, Ph.D. is the Ann Swindells Professor of Clinical Psychology at the University of Oregon, and the Co-Founder and CEO of our company, Ksana Health Inc. He is a leading researcher and clinician in the area of youth mental health, known especially for his work on the causes and treatment of adolescent onset depression.

Erica Hutchins Coe is the leader of McKinsey & Company’s Center for Societal Benefit through Healthcare. Erica leads McKinsey’s ongoing efforts to invest in issues deeply relevant to society, such as social determinants of health, rural health, maternal health, and behavioral health—including improving care delivery for mental and substance use disorders

Thomas Insel, M.D. is a psychiatrist and neuroscientist, and is a national leader in mental health research, policy, and technology. From 2002-2015, Dr. Insel served as Director of the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). Since May 2019, he has been a special advisor to California Governor Gavin Newsom and Chair of the Board of the Steinberg Institute in Sacramento, California.

Josh Spitalnick, Ph.D., ABPP is a Licensed Psychologist, an anxiety and OCD expert, and Board Certified (AABP) in Behavioral and Cognitive Psychology. He is the Clinical Director and Owner of Anxiety Specialists of Atlanta, an innovative outpatient practice specializing in Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT), evidence-based interventions, and exposure therapy for anxiety disorders.