Better technology is an imperative for behavioral health

The state of behavioral health tells two different stories.

On one hand, the crisis is deepening: 62% of U.S. adults now experience mental health challenges, up from 44% just a decade ago. Severe mental illness has climbed from 10% to 15% over that same period, according to third-party research commissioned by Qualifacts (research not available publicly).

On the flip side, there are signs of genuine progress. The stigma around seeking care is finally lessening, with treatment rates rising from 45% to 52% between 2014 and 2024. Mental health and substance use spending increased 55% from 2015 to 2022, adding 170,000 critical jobs to the behavioral health workforce during that time, according to the same research.

That’s not to say the industry is “fixed.” We’re still facing staffing shortages, clinician burnout, and ongoing hurdles in proving outcomes. However, if you look at the growing investment, the increased willingness to seek care, and the expanding workforce, we’re at least trending in a better direction.

At the core of these hurdles is technology. Behavioral healthcare growth has outpaced technology, and that gap is becoming the field’s defining challenge.

WHEN TECHNOLOGY BECOMES THE BOTTLENECK

As prevalence, staffing, and spending have increased, so has the operational complexity of behavioral healthcare. Providers are expected to coordinate across hospitals, primary care, social services, payers, and state agencies. They’re asked to document more, report more, and prove outcomes more frequently, all while managing caseloads that have grown faster than providers’ capacity to serve patients.

Much of the technology underpinning behavioral health was designed for a different era—built 15+ years ago when the federal government’s HITECH Act of 2009 incentivized electronic health record (EHR) adoption. EHR systems helped digitize documentation and standardize billing, but many were built primarily as compliance and reimbursement tools. They captured data effectively but rarely made it easy to use.

As a result, organizations invested heavily in collecting information they couldn’t easily access, share, or act on. Clinicians absorbed the cost by performing administrative work layered on top of care delivery. Leaders absorbed it through delayed insights and reactive decision-making. It created a model that doesn’t scale. And in a field where clinician capacity directly determines access to care, inefficiency quickly became a clinical problem.

I hear this consistently from leaders running behavioral health agencies across the country. They need intuitive systems that reduce friction and support the work their teams are trying to do. The good news: I believe we’re at the renaissance of modern EHRs that have the capacity to address these exact problems. 

THE NEXT-GENERATION EHRS

Future behavioral health system software should reorient technology around how care is delivered, not how billing departments prefer to capture it. Here are three changes that need to happen.

1. Interoperability needs to be foundational

Behavioral health providers can’t operate in isolation if they’re going to treat their patients holistically. They need systems that connect cleanly with hospitals, labs, payers, pharmacies, community organizations, and state agencies. Data needs to move across organizations and platforms without manual workarounds or duplicate entry. Without that connectivity, care coordination breaks down and reporting becomes an exercise in frustration.

2. AI has a critical role to play

AI can provide administrative relief. Its greatest potential lies in reducing the time clinicians spend navigating EHRs, writing notes, and completing forms after sessions end. When documentation and workflow support happen in the background, clinicians can focus on the work that definitively requires human judgment and presence.

That shift can’t be understated. When technology functions as a clinical tool rather than a billing system with a clinical overlay, it changes how care feels on both sides of the interaction. Clinicians regain time and attention. Patients receive more engaged, present care.

3. Systems need to support outcomes reporting as a capability, not an afterthought

As value-based payment models accelerate and grant criteria evolve, the ability to demonstrate impact becomes a necessity. Organizations need systems designed to track progress, identify gaps, and present results in ways that support reimbursement, accreditation, and compliance, without requiring clinicians to become data analysts.

WHY TECHNOLOGY MATTERS NOW

The field is under pressure from multiple directions. Demand continues to grow. Regulatory requirements keep evolving. Payment models are shifting. And the workforce, despite its growth, remains stretched thin.

Technology can finally address these issues. Systems designed for interoperability, reduced administrative burden, and clinician-led workflows can convert today’s growth into sustainable capacity without requiring providers to fundamentally change how they practice.

When clinicians spend less time on screens and more time present with patients, both care quality and workforce sustainability improve. When leaders have real-time visibility into operations, they can make proactive decisions instead of reactive ones. When data flows seamlessly across care settings, patients get coordinated care rather than fragmented interventions.

Behavioral health is expanding. The technology supporting it needs to do the same to ensure that growth translates into better outcomes for the people who need care most.

Josh Schoeller is the CEO of Qualifacts.