Meeting the needs of Behavioral Healthcare and Human Services Organizations During the COVID-19 Pandemic

The past year has been challenging for health care professionals across all settings, include those in behavioral health care and human services (BHC). We recognize the incredible challenge that you are facing to provide quality care, treatment and services to individuals served – particularly as concerns about mental health and substance use grow as the COVID-19 pandemic lingers on.

To better learn about the needs of health care and human services organizations in the current and evolving pandemic, The Joint Commission, Joint Commission Resources, Inc. and the Joint Commission Center for Transforming Healthcare conducted an online questionnaire in September 2020.

The questionnaire, administered by C+R Research, had a total of 735 respondents representing a variety of health care settings, including BHC, hospital, home care and ambulatory. It identified needs for enhancements, changes and improvements to patient safety and quality of care amid COVID-19.

Key Findings from Behavioral Health Care and Human Services Organizations

A total of 119 BHC organizations participated in the questionnaire, including those that provide:

Substance use disorder treatment

Community-based mental health

Family and/or children’s services

Methadone/opioid treatment

Services for individuals with intellectual disabilities

Eating disorders

Compared to other health care settings, BHC organizations were more likely to report staffing issues (55%), specifically related to retention and working from home. BHC organizations also were more likely to report issues with implementing telehealth and virtual services, as well as with travel restrictions and the reallocation of staff to different locations.

BHC organizations identified specific needs related to:

Upgrading technology/equipment for telebehavioral health activities

Implementing virtual patient/client intake

Suspending communal dining activities

A BHC Quality Experience Director who participated in the study reported, “Few staff had ever worked from home, so managers needed to spend more time with staff in the beginning to not only help acclimate, but to also offer support because shelter-in-place had such a huge emotional/mental impact. ”

Your Health Care Worker Wellbeing

The continued onslaught of COVID-19 has pushed health care and human services organizations to their limits and workers beyond physical exhaustion. The majority of BHC organizations (91%) agreed that tools to help manage employee morale are important resources during COVID-19.

“Mental health is an important part of our function as an agency. The agency has always offered free counseling to staff who need it and has been encouraging since the beginning of this pandemic to use the services, if needed, ” explained one BHC study participant. “For example, my Executive Supervisor checks with us to see how we are doing emotionally before talking about work. Sometimes we simply meet as a staff to share how we are feeling and our anxieties. Emails are constantly sent by the CEO with suggestions on how to take care of ourselves and what to do. ”

To help address concerns regarding health care worker wellbeing during COVID-19, The Joint Commission recently issued a special edition of its Sentinel Event Alert on managing safety concerns of health care workers during COVID-19. The alert encourages health care organizations to:

1. Foster open and transparent communication to build trust, reduce fears, build morale and sustain an effective workforce.

2. Remove barriers to health care workers seeking mental health services and develop systems that support institutional, as well as individual, resilience.

3. Protect workers’ safety using the National Institute of Occupational Health and Safety (NIOSH) Hierarchy of Controls framework.

4. Develop a flexible workforce; evaluate the work being performed and determine if it can be performed remotely.

5. Provide clinicians and others with opportunities to collaborate, lead and innovate.

The alert, applicable to those in human services, is the first in a series that will help address health care workers’ concerns and provide guidance on how to respond to them during COVID-19.

COVID-19 Resources and Support

One of the findings from the study that I found reassuring was that many BHC organizations credited Joint Commission accreditation for helping them apply safety culture principles and concepts during the pandemic. In addition, many organizations said that our requirement to have an emergency management plan in place helped them quickly respond at the start of COVID-19.

In the coming months, we plan to use the findings from the study to further support our BHC organizations. The findings will guide the resources and tools that we develop and share with our accredited organizations – helping them overcome challenges and identify solutions to continue to provide safe and quality of care for individuals served.

For the latest COVID-19 resources, please visit The Joint Commission’s Coronavirus Resources portal at www.jointcommission.org/covid-19/. The public portal contains links to recommendations for health care worker health and wellbeing, webinar recordings for different organization types, and information on our advocacy efforts for health care and human services workers during the pandemic.

The Joint Commission is here to support you during COVID-19 and beyond. We can bring the BHC community together to share best practices and solutions as we continue to fight against this deadly pandemic. Thank you for all that you do.

Written By: Julia Finken, BSN, MBA, CPHQ, CLSSMBB

Julia Finken, BSN, MBA, CPHQ, CLSSMBB, is Executive Director of Behavioral Health Care and Human Services at The Joint Commission in Oakbrook Terrace, Ill. Previously, Ms. Finken served as a Joint Commission surveyor for 9 years and an associate director of business development for 3 years. Ms. Finken has worked in administrative roles in the health care industry for over 25 years. Her career has been dedicated to developing and implementing health care programs that balance efficiency, quality and financial outcomes.