Name
Optimizing use of Warm Hand-Offs (WHOs) in a challenging environment
Description

It is of paramount importance that resources that are made available are utilized in appropriate fashion, and warm hand-offs are no exception. We sought to determine if warm hand-offs offered virtually (scheduled same-day brief tele-health visits) improve physician engagement, and what factors influence use of them and what are the consequences of this different delivery mechanism. We collected metrics used to determine physician engagement pulled from our EHR including (yet not limited to): # hours/week a BHP was available in the clinic, # WHOs completed per month, IBH engagement (completed first appointments with a BHP after referral and beyond the WHO), and PCP satisfaction. As compared to a WHO occurring less than once every 3 hours it was available prior to the transformation, analyses showed a doubling of WHOs after they were made virtual.

Speakers
Bill Sieber, PhD
Co-Authors
Heather Morris, Sean Johnson, Eden Brown, Carly Namhie, Stefan Tica
Content Level
Advanced
Tags
Financing and Operational Sustainability, Innovations, Quality improvement programs
Session Type
Poster
Objective 1
Identify several variables to measure the utilization and satisfaction of multiple stakeholders in the Warm Hand-Off process.
Objective 2
Describe the steps to take when transforming in person WHOs to a virtual or remote format.
Objective 3
List personnel important to a quality improvement process in integrated behavioral health.
Content Reference 1

Kallenberg, G. A., & Sieber, W. J. (2024). “Integrated behavioral health plus”: The best of the worlds of collaborative care management, primary care behavioral health, and primary care. Families, Systems, & Health. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1037/fsh0000885.

Content Reference 2

Robinson, P.J., Reiter, J.T. (2016). Behavioral Consultation and Primary Care: The “Why Now?” and “How?”. In: Behavioral Consultation and Primary Care. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-13954-8_1

Content Reference 3

Hunter, C.L., Funderburk, J.S., Polaha, J. et al. Primary Care Behavioral Health (PCBH) Model Research: Current State of the Science and a Call to Action. J Clin Psychol Med Settings 25, 127–156 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10880-017-9512-0

Content Reference 4

Funderburk, J. S., Wray, L. O., Martin, J., & Maisto, S. A. (2024). How do models of integrated primary care work? A proposed model for mechanisms of change using primary care behavioral health. Psychological Services, 21(3), 569–580. https://doi.org/10.1037/ser0000871

Content Reference 5

Funderburk, J. S., Gass, J. C., Wray, J. M., & Shepardson, R. L. (2023). Prevalence and predictors of team-based care activities between primary care providers and embedded behavioral health providers: a national survey. Journal of Interprofessional Care, 37(1), 58–65. https://doi.org/10.1080/13561820.2021.2004098