NJAMHAA News - October 2021

October 2021 13 N ationwide, 4.5 million behavioral health clinicians are needed to meet the demand, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. “Because of the dramatic shortage of clinicians and the highly confidential nature of behavioral health care, supervision is usually one session per month if they’re lucky, so clinicians don’t get the insights they need to best help their clients,” according to Corey Feldman, MBA, Executive Head of Growth, Eleos Health , a member of NJAMHAA’s Technology Council. “What they write down becomes a source of truth on which clinical decisions are based. With 40 to 50 clients per week, documentation is often not done immediately, so a lot can get lost.” Eleos Health’s Care Intelligence provides real-time insights, enabling clinicians to provide more personalized care and make the most effective decisions for each client. Among the program’s most unique features are automatically generated treatment reports that are based on results of clinical assessments. “The software uses keywords and changes in pitch and tone. It picks up on emotional overlays and documents the flow of each session. This, in turn, generates analyses on various aspects of client-clinician interactions,” Feldman explained. Without Care Intelligence, “there isn’t much visibility for clinicians about what happens in their sessions,” said Feldman. For example, therapists may have a sense that the time they spend talking is equal to or less than the time their clients speak. However, Eleos’ program has shown that clinicians commonly speak for 80% of the time in a session, whereas the ideal is 50%. Another type of meaningful input is the amount of time a clinician pauses after asking a question. Pausing for up to seven seconds leads to better outcomes, as this encourages clients to share more about their feelings and experiences. Only about 50% of clinicians use evidence-based practices (EBPs) because they are not commonly taught in schools and clinics, and refresher courses may not provide a way for clinicians to measure themselves. “Many believe they’re using evidence-based practices. You need measurement to see yourself clearly,” Feldman stated. Eleos’ concurrent documentation function enables therapists to read clients’ expressions and other body language; by contrast, this important visual information would be missed while clinicians write their own documentation during counseling sessions. In addition, with the reporting being done automatically, clinicians gain more information that they can use to adjust their strategies and maximize their effectiveness. “Clinicians can be fully engaged and add to the documentation later,” Feldman said. Documentation time can be reduced by up to 40% and that saved time can be used to guide clients to quicker recovery. Eleos Health identified up to a 55%decrease in depressive symptoms within four weeks and a 54% reduction over the course of standard treatment. In addition, on average, clients whose clinicians follow EBPs improve two times faster than individuals whose treatment does not include EBPs. Furthermore, clinicians who use Care Intelligence have reported a 93% increase in job satisfaction, which further contributes to higher quality of care by reducing compassion fatigue and burnout. To learn more about Eleos Health, visit https://eleos.health/. Eleos Health Enhances Care Quality through Real-time Analysis and Documentation Eleos Software generates analyses of client-clinician interactions. - Corey Feldman, MBA, Executive Head of Growth Eleos Health