Acuity Behavioral Health to Examine Clinical Impact of the BHAI on Yale New Haven Health Inpatient Psychiatric Operations, Workflows and Outcomes

Validation study will assess clinical and operational impacts of precision measurement of patient acuity within inpatient psychiatric units utilizing the BHAI (Behavioral Health Acuity Index) model. The study will provide an analysis of human factors impacting nursing staff, reporting workflows and clinical outcomes in actual cases.

ATLANTA and NEW HAVEN, Conn., Feb. 5, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Acuity Behavioral Health, creators of the BHAI (Behavioral Health Acuity Index), a quantitative model for patient acuity and workload measurement for behavioral healthcare, today announced that Yale New Haven is implementing the BHAI in collaboration with the YNHH Center for Health Care Innovation to provide expanded clinical decision-support for YNHH's inpatient psychiatric and Emergency Department staffing and bed utilization needs for inpatient psychiatric facilities.

Concurrently, and in collaboration with several health systems currently utilizing the BHAI, this represents the next phase of an ongoing multi-institutional review of patient cases being conducted to further document the BHAI's impact on nursing staff workflows, staff allocations, patient care and outcomes. An independent Human Factors Engineering analysis will correlate the BHAI's patient and unit-level acuity scoring with nursing staff time allocations and level of care for their inpatient psychiatric units. The review will document the impact on operational efficiency, workload balancing and retention, readmissions, and patient experience.

"Our collaboration with one of the world's most highly regarded Behavioral Healthcare institutions is aimed at providing an objective assessment of the benefits of the BHAI when deployed for use within inpatient psychiatric facilities and behavioral healthcare."

About the BHAI
The BHAI is a validated and quantitative data compilation model developed by many of the nation's most trusted behavioral health institutions and clinical experts to address operational problems within inpatient psychiatric setting created by a growing number of patients, a declining population of nurses and staff, and an increasingly acute shortage of inpatient psychiatric beds. "In creating the BHAI, patient acuity was considered as the top priority in determining the level of care each patient requires," according to Jim Szyperski, President & CEO of Acuity. The BHAI provides a transparent measurement of patient acuity score via a comprehensive model that weighs specific elements of a patient record in combination with real-time inputs provided by nursing staff. The result is a precision acuity score on a 1- 100 scale for the individual patient and an aggregated score for each psychiatric unit. Built directly into nurse and nurse manager workflows, this information provides quantifiable and actionable clinical decision-support to accurately and efficiently plan the next day's staffing and resource needs.

"Current BHAI users report improvements in streamlined admissions, a reduction is readmissions, and ease of use by nursing staff in their actual clinical operations," said Acuity's CEO Jim Szyperski. " This collaboration with Yale New Haven Health, one of the world's most highly regarded healthcare institutions, is a major milestone in our mission to radically improve the care and treatment of psychiatric inpatients, and the safety of the dedicated nurses and staff treating these patients. In an industry sector noticeably absent of actionable data, the BHAI provides a quantitative and replicable model that provides clinical decision support to everyday psychiatric inpatient operations."

About Acuity Behavioral Health
Acuity Behavioral Health, created by and for behavioral health providers, has developed a clinical and management support solution to improve the quality of care in inpatient psychiatric settings. The solution, the Behavioral Health Acuity Index (BHAI) provides a rapid and accurate measure of patient acuity within inpatient settings. The BHAI was created by the nation's leading behavioral health experts to improve patient care, reduce safety risks, and to address the increasingly acute status of mental health patients. The BHAI represents the first of its kind process model to standardize measurement of patient acuity and workload for inpatient psychiatric settings. 

To learn more, please visit https://acuitybh.com or follow Acuity on LinkedIn.

Contact Information:
Jim Szyperski
Acuity Behavioral Health
[email protected]

SOURCE Acuity Behavioral Health Inc.