Behavioral Health

New Mexico’s hospitals know that physical health and mental health are one. All patients do better if their physical and mental health needs are met.

 

NMHA members include free-standing, inpatient behavioral health hospitals and hospitals with designated behavioral health departments. All hospitals do their best to stabilize and treat the escalation of New Mexicans of all ages suffering from mental illness and substance use.

 

Too often, New Mexico patients leave the hospital without mental health providers in the community who can guide the patient through long-term mental health wellness. It isn’t long before many patients return to the hospital emergency departments with worsening physical and mental health.

 

This is why NMHA hospitals through its NMHA Behavioral Health Task Force support policy solutions that would expand access to a statewide network of behavioral health providers inside the hospital and in the broader community.

 

Some of these solutions include:

• Developing a statewide behavioral health specific transport system so patients can be taken to the next optimal level of care without the delay that hinders recovery and prevents new patients from accessing care.

• Reimbursement parity for mental health services.

• Increasing the number of clinical behavioral health professionals and providers that practice in the state in all settings.

• Increasing the state’s inpatient and outpatient capacity to treat children and adolescents.

• Integrating trauma informed care and behavioral health into hospital, healthcare and other settings through staff training and other strategies. 

• Expanding the capacity to provide telehealth behavioral health services in rural and urban regions.

• Addressing the dire substance use crisis.

 

NMHA can help policymakers and others understand the most critical barriers to access to behavioral health care and can provide guidance on strategies that create a supportive system rather than a patchwork of care.