In my two decades of working in mental health policy, I have never been more hopeful than I am today.
That’s because there has never been a more opportune moment to improve mental health outcomes. One of the solutions my colleagues and I at the Meadows Institute are most excited about is AI’s potential to revolutionize mental health service delivery.
When I spoke about AI in mental health at the American Academy of Arts and Sciences last December, in a panel moderated by CNN’s Dr. Sanjay Gupta, the conversation largely centered on legitimate concerns about the dangers of AI chatbots, especially for the most vulnerable among us: young people and those already experiencing mental health conditions.
Of course, we must, first and foremost, protect the health and safety of our children and communities with strong safeguards for the use of AI to support mental health care. But as I told the Academy, we cannot allow those valid problems to blind us to the value that AI can provide. The risks of inaction for the 43 million Americans experiencing a mental health condition each year are simply too great.
The pace of change is moving so rapidly that in the four months since that event, the narrative has shifted to one of less fear and greater acceptance and engagement.
That’s why I was not surprised to see the American Medical Association release the results of a new survey last month that found that more than 80% of physicians use AI routinely in practice. Seven in 10 physicians see AI as a tool to automate tasks that contribute to work-related burnout, and 76% say this technology can help with patient care.
Open AI reports that of its more than 800 million regular users, one in four submits a prompt about health care every week. According to a study from the Rand Corporation, one in eight U.S. adolescents and young adults use AI chatbots for mental health advice.
In light of these facts, it was encouraging to see Open AI convene a listening session recently with the American Psychological Association and the other members of the CEO Alliance for Mental Health. Indeed, there is a growing perception in the business community and in Congress that AI could be a game changer for mental health.
As the chief innovation officer at the Meadows Institute, I stand at the intersection of tech companies, health systems large and small, and policymakers interested in advancing solutions for mental health challenges. Lately I have been hearing two parallel conversations about AI:
Tech companies and large health systems appear excited about the theoretical and practical possibilities for AI. Meanwhile, smaller systems and providers would like to be bullish on this new technology but remain skeptical about whether it can help them with their most immediate concerns: digging out from a mammoth administrative burden and finding a way to spend more time providing clinical services.
While I am encouraged to see more mental health leaders paying attention to the opportunities for AI to alleviate provider workload and burnout challenges, I am concerned that a new technological caste system may be emerging in the mental health field: one for the large and established provider networks that possess the ability to leverage large structured and unstructured data to take full advantage of AI-enabled solutions, another for smaller providers, who are often located in rural areas and do not have the same capabilities.
Our team at the Meadows Institute has surveyed the landscape, and the good news is that there are opportunities for AI-enabled tools to help both groups.
In smaller practices such as the Texana Center, which operates in six counties in Texas, AI tools are already being used to provide transcription and session notes and automate intake data, including symptoms, history, and screening results. Currently, it is estimated that physicians spend 35% of their time on clinical documentation. When deployed effectively, AI-enabled tools can greatly relieve provider workload, facilitate enhanced billing, and allow practitioners to spend more time with patients.
Larger organizations like Centerstone, a nonprofit provider network whose programs focus on accessibility in underserved regions, is actively integrating AI-enabled tools to improve measurement and outcomes monitoring alongside quality improvement to reduce burnout amongst its providers. Specifically, it has partnered with one AI company to support Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinics (CCBHCs) across the country to help improve quality of care through training and real-time coaching for Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT), and suicide prevention.
Beyond leveraging AI to help to relieve administrative burden and quality improvement, larger health systems are using technology to help improve outcomes by providing support for clinical decision making.
Intermountain Health, the largest nonprofit health system in the Intermountain West, recently announced that it is leaning heavily into AI with over 300 AI projects currently underway, including a partnership with a behavioral health platform to stratify patients by risk level to help clinical operators prioritize the urgency and level of care needed including leveraging an algorithm to detect patients in primary care at the highest risk of suicide. Successful implementation could revolutionize the efficiency and effectiveness of our workforce by ensuring they are focusing on the highest and best use of their skills.
We are living in a brave new world in which AI is rapidly reshaping health care, and it offers an unprecedented opportunity to transform mental health services in large, smaller health provider networks as well as independent providers.
Like any innovation, AI for mental health will require thoughtful implementation, regulation, and human oversight, but AI is here and smart providers will seize the opportunity to use it to help them do what they do best — care for the millions of people who are struggling with mental illnesses across America.
About the author: Kacie Kelly is the chief innovation officer at the Meadows Mental Health Policy Institute.