Frequently Asked Questions
Clinics and Hospitals
Health Care Providers
Insurers
Answers
The DEC integrated behavioral system includes an efficient and comprehensive crisis assessment tool for your mental health professionals to use when evaluating patients with behavioral needs in your emergency department. This system will help your professionals determine the level of care that is needed for the patient, connect the patient to the recommended level of care, and communicate clinical information to any new or existing community providers involved in the patient's care....all while the patient is still in the emergency department. The enhanced services that emergency departments can provide when using the DEC integrated behavioral system increases patient safety and reduces liability for the hospital.
To learn more about using DEC in your hospital please email us or call 1-800-361-0491 to speak with a DEC Manager.
Patients who present to the emergency department in a behavioral crisis will have access to a licensed mental health professional who can meet with the patient to determine their immediate behavioral needs. Sites that use the DEC integrated behavioral system also have the capability to allow you immediate electronic access to your patient’s assessment information, with patient consent. You will know immediately why the patient was seen in the ED and what the recommended level of care was for the patient before the patient returns to your office. In order to obtain a login to the web-based application, please email us to attain an Access Request Form.
To refer your patient to an emergency department using the DEC system, please see our list of current locations.
To receive referrals from sites that use the DEC system, please email us to request an Access Request Form for the SchedulR. The SchedulR is a web based scheduling application that allows practitioners and programs to set appointment times aside for the sites who use the DEC integrated behavioral system and BHP to use for patients who are in need of an appointment. Practitioners have complete control over choosing the appointment times they set aside for use in the SchedulR. Appointment offerings can be for any type of outpatient mental health or chemical dependency care.
Emergency departments often do not have licensed mental health clinicians staffed to evaluate behavioral patients to determine the most appropriate level of care. These patients are typically evaluated by emergency room physicians who do not have extensive training in the behavioral field or a knowledge base of behavioral levels of care available. Emergency physicians also face challenges in gaining immediate access to behavioral care directly from the emergency department for patients. These issues create a dichotomy for the physician: admit or discharge. This means that some patients may be admitted that could be better served by a less intensive level of care and other patients will be discharged with a plan for the patient to schedule appointments themselves. These appointments could be scheduled weeks to months out from the current crisis, due to issues of access.
The reduction in unnecessary inpatient psychiatric admissions from emergency departments translates into an over $80 million savings to the contracted insurance carriers since the first site began using the DEC integrated behavioral system in 2002.
BHP created the DEC integrated behavioral system to ensure patients are evaluated by mental health professionals, have access to the most appropriate care to meet their needs, and follow up after being discharged from the emergency department, which reduces the hospital’s liability. If patients have immediate access to the most appropriate care, patient safety is improved. The goal of the DEC integrated behavioral system is to connect patients to the services they need, when they need them. These services are designed to help patients avoid another crisis in the future, which ultimately increases patient safety and decreases liability.
BHP believes that the services that emergency departments can provide to patients when they use the DEC integrated behavioral system are unmatched by other emergency departments.