St. Mary’s Healthcare meets patients where they are to provide mental health services
Accessing comprehensive mental healthcare is especially challenging in rural communities, where residents often face a shortage of healthcare providers, limited transportation options, persistent stigma, higher poverty rates and other negative social determinants of health. St. Mary’s Healthcare takes on these challenges with its innovative Assertive Community Treatment program, which helps meet patients where they are to serve adults with severe, enduring mental illness.
The mobile ACT program is staffed by a multidisciplinary team that provides wide-ranging, coordinated, patient-centered care, including intensive treatment, rehabilitation and support services to individuals with mental illnesses such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder or schizoaffective disorder, who have difficulty navigating traditional mental healthcare.
Team members travel to participants at least six times a month to provide care, whether in their homes, homeless shelters or hotels. Staff focus on building trusting relationships with participants to improve engagement and adherence to treatment plans. Meeting these individuals where they are allows the team to assess not only their mental health needs but also what they may need outside of traditional care — nutrition, clothing, living arrangements or social needs. Active ACT participants also have access to a 24/7 crisis hotline number, which lets them connect with a team member any day or time they need support.
They also assist with job searching and literacy or any aspect of everyday life that can empower participants and move them toward independence. Central to ACT’s success are the numerous community partners who collaborate with St. Mary’s Healthcare to meet participants’ clinical, emotional and daily living needs.
In the six years since St. Mary’s Healthcare launched ACT, only three participants have been readmitted. Additionally, there have been significant improvements in key indicators for those who remain in the ACT program for three years:
- psychiatric hospitalization rates declined from 42% at six months to 15% at three years;
- psychiatric emergency room visits declined from 52% at six months to 18% at three years;
- threat of self-harm decreased from 21% at six months to 3% at three years;
- homelessness rates declined from 27% at six months to 9% at three years; and
- forensic involvement rates declined from 18% at six months to 6% at three years.
For more information, contact Margaret Brodie, vice president, mission advancement and patient experience, at brodiem@nysmha.org or 518.841.7135.
