Peer Support Services in Behavioral Health Facilities: Secondary Analysis From Two National Surveys.

OBJECTIVE: Peer support providers are part of the behavioral health workforce. Research indicates that peer support helps care recipients achieve recovery and engage with behavioral health services. This article investigated how many U.S. behavioral health facilities offer peer support services and compared the frequencies of peer support services in facilities providing mental health and substance use services. METHODS: The authors conducted a secondary analysis of facilities in the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration's National Mental Health Services Survey (N=11,582) and the National Survey of Substance Abuse Treatment Services (N=13,585), including descriptive and comparative analyses on reported mental health and substance use treatment services in the 50 U.S. states in 2017. RESULTS: The findings revealed state-to-state variation in the number and availability of mental health and substance use service facilities and in facilities that reported providing peer support services. Facilities providing substance use treatment services offered peer support services at more than twice the rate (56.6%) found in mental health facilities (24.7%). The authors also identified program characteristics associated with the inclusion of peer support services in behavioral health. Provision of peer support services was more frequently reported by public facilities than by for-profit and nonprofit facilities. CONCLUSIONS: Behavioral health facilities that serve individuals with serious mental illness and co-occurring substance use and mental health conditions reported offering peer support at a higher rate than did other facilities. Inconsistent definitions of peer support in the two surveys limited the comparability of the findings between the two reports.

Perceptions of buprenorphine barriers and efficacy among nurse practitioners and physician assistants.

BACKGROUND: Medications for opioid use disorder (MOUDs), including methadone, buprenorphine, and naltrexone, decrease mortality and morbidity for people with opioid use disorder (OUD). Buprenorphine and methadone have the strongest evidence base among MOUDs. Unlike methadone, buprenorphine may be prescribed in office-based settings in the U.S., including by nurse practitioners (NPs) and physician assistants (PAs) who have a federal waiver and adhere to federal patient limits. Buprenorphine is underutilized nationally, particularly in rural areas, and NPs/PAs could help address this gap. Therefore, we sought to identify perceptions of buprenorphine efficacy and perceptions of prescribing barriers among NPs/PAs. We also sought to compare perceived buprenorphine efficacy and perceived prescribing barriers between waivered and non-waivered NPs/PAs, as well as to compare perceived buprenorphine efficacy to perceived naltrexone and methadone efficacy. METHODS: We disseminated an online survey to a random national sample of NPs/PAs. We used Mann-Whitney U tests to compare between waivered and non-waivered respondents. We used non-parametric Friedman tests and post-hoc Wilcoxon signed-rank tests to compare perceptions of medication types. RESULTS: 240 respondents participated (6.5% response rate). Most respondents agreed buprenorphine is efficacious and believed counseling and peer support should complement buprenorphine. Buprenorphine was generally perceived as more efficacious than both naltrexone and methadone. Perceived buprenorphine efficacy and prescribing barriers differed by waiver status. Non-waivered practitioners were more likely than waivered practitioners to have concerns about buprenorphine affecting patient mix. Among waivered NPs/PAs, key buprenorphine prescribing barriers were insurance prior authorization and detoxification access. CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that different policies should target perceived barriers affecting waivered versus non-waivered NPs/PAs. Concerns about patient mix suggest stigmatization of patients with OUD. NP/PA education is needed about comparative medication efficaciousness, particularly regarding methadone. Even though many buprenorphine treatment patients benefits from counseling and/or peer support groups, NPs/PAs should be informed that such psychosocial treatment methods are not necessary for all buprenorphine patients.

Telebehavioral Health During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Qualitative Analysis of Provider Experiences and Perspectives.

Introduction: Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and prompted by recent federal and state policy shifts impacting behavioral health care delivery, the use of telebehavioral health has rapidly increased. This qualitative study describes behavioral health provider perspectives on the use of telebehavioral health before and during the pandemic and how policy changes impacted access to and utilization of behavioral health services in Michigan. Materials and Methods: A convenience sample of 31 licensed and nonlicensed behavioral health providers operating in Michigan participated in semi-structured interviews between July and August 2020. Interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed, and analyzed by using inductive methods. Results: The thematic analysis resulted in four overarching themes: (1) increased access to care; (2) maintenance of quality of care; (3) minimal privacy concerns; and (4) client and provider satisfaction. Discussion: During and post-pandemic, providers need flexibility to determine whether in-person or telebehavioral health services, including audio-only, best meet client needs. Providers identified several populations for which telebehavioral health was less accessible: clients with serious mental illness and substance use disorder, those with no broadband Internet access, children, and older adults. Additional training in telebehavioral health service provision can positively impact quality of care. Conclusion: Policies that support reimbursement parity and expand provider use of telebehavioral health services should be maintained after the COVID-19 pandemic ends to avoid imposing barriers to accessing behavioral health care barriers post-pandemic.

The Distribution of Advanced Practice Nurses Within the Psychiatric Workforce.

OBJECTIVE: To examine the size and distribution of the advanced practice psychiatric nurse workforce relative to the total psychiatry workforce to determine whether nurses are predominantly working in areas with higher or lower levels of behavioral health specialists. METHODS: State-level data for psychiatric nurses were obtained from the American Nurses Credentialing Center, and included mental health psychiatric nurse practitioners, adult psychiatric nurse practitioners, child psychiatric clinical nurse specialists, and adult psychiatric clinical nurse specialists. Supply estimates of the full psychiatry workforce were calculated for comparison purposes. State population estimates were obtained from U.S. Census Bureau data. State workforce estimates were converted to a 1:100,000 provider-to-population ratio to analyze the density of providers across states. RESULTS: In 2018, the psychiatric workforce supply was estimated to be composed of 66,740 providers, including psychiatrists (n = 47,046; 71%), psychiatric nurses (n = 17,534; 26%), physician assistants (n = 1,164; 2%), and psychiatric pharmacists (n = 966; 1%). Overall, psychiatric providers appeared to be most densely concentrated in the northeast region of the United States. A dearth of providers was most pronounced within areas in the 12-state Midwest region, southern states, California, and Nevada. The average concentration of psychiatric workers was 22.61 per 100,000 population. CONCLUSIONS: The findings of this study find inconsistent pattern of how psychiatric nurses are distributed relative to the rest of the workforce, but reinforce the idea that they are essential in addressing care needs in areas with low concentrations of psychiatry specialists-especially if they are authorized to work to the full extent of their training/education.