AI in behavioral health supports workflows, safeguards data, and enhances patient care without replacing the human element.
Like many industries, AI is quickly changing the field of healthcare, including behavioral health. From making clinical notes more efficient to supporting diagnosis and treatment plans, AI offers a wide variety of new capabilities for providers. But despite potential benefits, the use of AI in healthcare raises concerns about data privacy, ethical considerations and potential impact on the human element of care.
Much like Electronic Health Records, AI is most useful to therapists when it’s tailored specifically to their industry. For example, AI features built for general healthcare may not understand the language or intricacies of behavioral health, including the workflow processes employed by mental health practices.
Here are three guiding principles for behavioral health therapists to integrate AI adoption into their practices:
1. Identifying pain points
An important first step in assessing AI capabilities is finding the most pressing administrative needs at a practice. It can be a powerful tool to enhance patient care, streamline workflows and give providers back one thing that’s always in short supply: time.
AI can be a valuable support tool in various ways. For example, front desk staff who are often interrupted can reduce phone traffic through automated appointment reminders and scheduling systems. Therapists can save time on non-billable tasks by using AI to transcribe and document sessions. Once providers and staff experience the benefits of AI, it quickly becomes an essential part of their workflow.
Targeted AI applications can streamline processes of behavioral health practices including:
• Administration—the nuts and bolts of managing the practice and communicating with patients.
• Clinical—diagnosis, treatment and clinical documentation.
• Billing—claims and payment collection.
• Compliance—data security and adhering to health regulations.
2. Complex applications aren’t mainstream yet
While AI becomes more strategic and helpful in solving complex healthcare challenges, such as using it to diagnose or suggest treatments, the here-and-now priority for most behavioral health practices is to use AI to automate administrative tasks and streamline workflows. By automating clinical documentation, scheduling, and billing processes, these efficiencies reduce provider workload, allowing clinicians to dedicate more time to patient care.
As demand for mental health and medical services continues to rise, easing the administrative burden is a top priority. Complex, treatment-focused AI tools may play a larger role in the future, but today’s priority is leveraging AI to support overburdened providers and improve access to care, not to take over the therapeutic or diagnostic process.
3. Data security is the biggest barrier to AI adoption
Despite its value, there is still a barrier to AI adoption in the behavioral health industry. According to a recent study of behavioral health providers conducted by Valant, behavioral healthcare providers’ most pressing AI concern is data security and privacy. Ninety-eight percent of survey respondents cited data security as a major worry when it comes to AI.
For behavioral health patients, trust and confidentiality are critical, and providers want to be sure that their patients’ sensitive data is secure before they add additional technologies to the mix.
This is why companies that create AI for behavioral health must be transparent about their data safety capabilities. Before using an AI feature, it’s imperative to ensure it’s compliant with HIPAA, state and federal regulations.
Bottom Line: Outcomes Drive Adoption
The benefits that behavioral health practices are seeing from AI will continue to drive its adoption, despite the concerns. In our research study, in comparing the perspectives of those who are using AI and those who aren’t, one major difference stood out: how they perceive its impact. Users of AI tools tended to view AI positively, especially on patient care quality. In contrast, those who aren’t yet using AI were more skeptical and even saw its potential impact on care as a negative.
Still, both groups agreed that AI is most helpful when it comes to reducing administrative burden and clinical documentation, which can be a time-consuming part of behavioral health. While AI won’t be replacing therapists any time soon, it’s a critical tool for providers to streamline the complex workflows of practice management.
Executive Quote Call Out: While AI becomes more strategic and helpful in solving complex healthcare challenges, here-and-now priority for most behavioral health practices is to use AI to automate administrative tasks and streamline workflows. By automating clinical documentation, scheduling, and billing processes, these efficiencies reduce provider workload, allowing clinicians to dedicate more time to patient care.
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