About Session
Session Description:
Billings Clinic’s primary campus in southcentral Montana provides comprehensive women’s health services and a birth center serving patients across multiple counties and two American Indian Reservations. Rural birthing individuals experience perinatal mood and anxiety disorders (PMADs) at twice the rate of urban counterparts, yet face significant barriers to timely diagnosis and treatment due to geographic isolation and limited behavioral health resources. These gaps often lead to untreated depression, anxiety, and substance use, negatively impacting maternal and infant outcomes.
To improve access and outcomes, Billings Clinic launched The Empaths Program, embedding behavioral health services into outpatient OB/GYN care using the Collaborative Care Model (CoCM). This evidence-based approach ensures early identification and treatment of PMADs through a team-based system involving care managers, psychiatric consultants, and OB/GYN providers. By integrating mental health support into routine prenatal and postpartum visits, patients receive timely, coordinated care without the burden of traveling long distances or navigating fragmented systems.
This session will detail how behavioral health care management was delivered within OB/GYN workflows and share first-year outcomes, including screening rates, engagement in treatment, and symptom improvement among participating patients. Attendees will gain insight into how integrated care improved maternal mental health, strengthened continuity of care, and reduced barriers for rural mothers. Results demonstrate that OB/GYN clinics can serve as effective access points for behavioral health, leading to measurable improvements in perinatal mental health and overall well-being for mothers and infants.
Learning Objectives:
- Participants will be able to explain the core components of the Collaborative Care Model (CoCM) and how it was adapted for OB/GYN workflows to support perinatal mental health.
- Participants will be able to identify strategies used to integrate behavioral health care management into routine prenatal and postpartum visits.
- Participants will be provided the opportunity to analyze first-year outcome data from the Empaths Program, including screening rates, treatment engagement, and symptom improvement.
