Case Study: Behavioral Healthcare Providers achieves rapid access to telebehavioral care and reduced ED admissions with Amwell

Increasing Access to Mental Healthcare via Telehealth

Behavioral Healthcare Providers, a Minnesota-based non-profit that coordinates a network of over 5,500 mental health providers, faced growing demand for behavioral crisis care while local EDs often lacked on-site psychiatric staff. To expand timely access to care without adding full-time on-site clinicians, Behavioral Healthcare Providers partnered with Amwell, using Amwell’s telehealth platform (American Well) to deliver on-demand telebehavioral health services in emergency and inpatient settings.

Amwell enabled BHP’s 24/7 mental health team to provide video consults triggered by ED requests, streamline notifications and documentation, and coordinate follow-up care. The solution has supported 5,000+ telebehavioral consults since 2012, produced a 19% reduction in psychiatric admissions at a sample hospital, yielded a 36-minute average wait to start a consult and a 32-minute average consult length, and helped 55% of patients access outpatient services while achieving 91% patient-reported understanding—delivering cost reductions for payors and faster access to crisis care.

Behavioral Healthcare Providers