Redefining Mental Health Support: The Power of Next-Gen Provider Tools

Mental health has become a cornerstone of the modern workplace, and for good reason.

As a mental health provider with 15 years of experience in various settings, I've watched the landscape shift dramatically. Today's employees expect quality mental health support, and smart leaders are listening. When people feel truly valued, they perform better, stay longer, and are generally happier.

We're still fine-tuning how to deploy mental health treatment in various contexts, aiming for efficient, effective care. Organizations need to ensure resources are spent wisely, making it essential to track outcomes and return on investment.

This is where provider tooling comes into play. By integrating innovative tools into mental health solutions, we're addressing the need for effective care and the demand for measurable results. Let's explore how these tools are transforming workplace mental health.

Provider tools offer a path to more effective treatment

New mental health provider tools help clinicians treat their clients as whole people, giving them a better understanding of what’s going on with that individual and tracking their treatment progress over time. 

Essentially, providers are better able to deliver higher-quality care. I’ll give some examples of how this has worked in my practice later.

One angle to consider is how clinical providers use new treatment tools to integrate measurement-based care into the treatment process, and how these tools aid with:

• Retaining and nurturing the relationship between provider and patient
• Keeping members in treatment
• Ensuring that treatment progress is being made
• Keeping providers accountable

As mental health treatment evolves, the tools providers use to offer best-in-class treatment must evolve.

Tools that improve quality of care

Have you ever looked at your organization or health plan’s mental health solution and wondered how it could be better? 

Do you want more insight into whether your mental health solution is working?

Are you a provider who needs more support as you navigate your client’s mental health challenges?

Spring Health integrates several tools into its platform and treatment process to address these issues, which have made a difference in my practice. Two of the main ones we’ll discuss are Compass and Candela. 

Compass: a one-stop shop for providers

I like to refer to Compass as my one-stop shop. Compass is Spring Health’s electronic health records system incorporating measurement-based care (MBC), designed in collaboration with clinicians and mental health professionals. 

MBC collects client symptom data before, during, and after treatment to get a rich picture of treatment progress. This data is useful on an individual scale to help gauge how my clients are doing and can also help collect data for organizations seeking insight into population-level outcomes. 

In my practice, I use Compass to:

• View client symptoms over time

• Enter and review notes, member data, and assessment results
• Do all of my scheduling 
• Handle payments
• Message clients securely
• Integrate measurement-based care into treatment plans
• Make easy referrals to other providers when needed. 

Compass can also be used for e-prescribe and lab ordering functionality. Compass helps me do all of the admin necessary for a clinician while also giving me a better understanding of treatment progress.

Measurement-based care tools boost quality

My clients are sent regular, evidenced-based assessments through Spring Health’s platform to measure their mental health symptoms throughout their course of treatment. 

Compass compiles the results using visualizations that help me gauge client progress. I’ll also discuss the results with my clients so they can internalize and understand their progress. 

Maybe they aren’t sleeping well, which shows up in the data I look at before a session. When I see that information, I can use it to guide our session better.

Tools help mitigate risk

Compass also illuminates a patient’s level of functioning, including their risk of suicidality. The assessments surface how severe symptoms are and flag this clearly so I better understand how someone is doing.

Bringing all this information together in one place, where I can easily view it before and between sessions, helps keep me accountable and improves my planning. 

Without these tools we’re in the dark about treatment progress. Without measurement-based care, there’s a lot more guesswork.

Coordinating care made easy

Another thing I like about Compass is how easy it is to make referrals.

Let’s say I’m working with someone and realize they could benefit from having a coach in parallel with therapy. I can use Compass to make a referral easily.

I can also talk to other providers and see their documentation. If I make a referral and my client starts seeing a coach, I can view that coach’s documentation regarding their sessions.

Or, let’s say that I have a client struggling with substance use, and I notice that their drinking is at an elevated level and is outside of my scope of practice. I can use Compass to make and navigate that referral to get them to the best level of care possible. 

Candela: ensuring provider quality

Candela is Spring Health’s system for measuring the quality of care their network of providers delivers. Every month, I get a provider report that tells me how my clients are doing and how I perform compared to other providers in the network.

This system monitors the care members receive, supports provider professional growth, and reduces healthcare costs through faster recovery times. It includes:

• An internal dashboard to monitor the network across ten clinical and operational metrics
• Monthly provider-specific reports on caseload performance
• Quarterly incentives to the top 10% of performers

Centering the patient experience and better outcomes

This system has a couple of components. Patients can rate providers, and Candela also keeps track of patients’ outcomes. 

This is not just about incentivizing providers to complete many sessions—it’s more about the quality of care delivered. This tool helps us answer important questions like:

• Are patients getting better and improving their symptoms?
• Do they feel connected to their provider?
• Is therapeutic alliance being built between the provider and client?

People aren’t always comfortable speaking up in person. However, they can use Candela surveys and feedback to express themselves about their treatment process, which also helps providers understand what’s working.

Candela award 

Last year, I won Spring Health’s Candela Award, which was given to its highest-performing providers based on quantitative metrics.

The award is given to a provider for providing outstanding clinical care, making meaningful connections with clients, and applying evidence-based interventions.

This award was based on the following metrics, which provided validation that what I’m doing in my practice is working for my clients:

• High therapeutic alliance: the rapport I built with my clients 
• Tracking client progress: my clients improved over time
• Initial engagement: when someone reaches out for help, I’m able to get them started in care quickly
• Note completion: I utilized Compass to keep track of and document client progress

I was surprised to learn I’d won the award. My focus has always been on providing quality care to my patients. But it feels good to know that what I’m doing is working and helping people improve their quality of life.

Provider support

As a provider in private practice, it can feel like you’re working alone, without a support team. Usually, you don’t have consultation readily available to discuss a challenging case or only have your past experiences to draw from when putting together a treatment plan.

But when you have tools like Compass and Candela available to you, you’re able to get quantitative proof about whether progress is being made or not.

Spring Health also offers providers hands-on support from a team of licensed clinicians who can give guidance for crisis support, medication prescribing, and referrals. As a private practice provider, I feel this community support is good.

Knowing what’s working is key for organizations and individuals

Provider tools in mental health all serve a purpose: supporting the delivery of the highest quality of care. Using them takes the guesswork out of knowing if resources are being well invested into employee mental health support and helps organizations answer the following:

• Whether people are getting better
• What targeted interventions do their specific population needs
• The return on investment for mental health
• Where to target resources

Putting your patient’s interests at the forefront of everything you do is the central work of a mental health provider. New mental health treatment tools like Compass and Candela allow providers to do this while delivering ROI for employers.

‍Maximize your organization or health plan’s ROI by investing in a provider network that enhances employee well-being, boosting productivity and engagement for a truly effective mental health solution.