CASE STUDY
How High Plains Mental Health Center Expanded Access to Care with Iris Telehealth
“Had we not had our partnership with Iris Telehealth, we could not have pulled it off.”
High Plains Mental Health Center partnered with Iris Telehealth to address behavioral health workforce shortages across the rural communities it serves in northwest Kansas. What began with one part-time psychiatrist grew into a broader telehealth partnership that helped High Plains expand its clinical team, support its CCBHC model, increase access to services, and significantly reduce the time patients wait for care.
Background
High Plains Mental Health Center serves 20 counties across northwest Kansas, covering a geographic population of approximately 100,000 people and providing care to about 6,500 patients each year. Its service area averages just five people per square mile and includes farmers, ranchers, oil field workers, government employees and other rural populations. High Plains achieved Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinic (CCBHC) status in 2021, providing additional funding and resources to help address mental health and substance use treatment gaps throughout its communities.
Challenge
Like many rural behavioral health organizations, High Plains struggled to recruit mental health providers, particularly psychiatrists. Before partnering with Iris Telehealth, there were periods when a single psychiatrist served the entire agency, requiring High Plains to rely heavily on locum providers. Recruiting psychiatrists to rural and frontier communities was difficult, limiting the organization’s ability to build the workforce needed to meet growing demand and expand services.
Solution
High Plains partnered with Iris Telehealth in 2019, initially adding one part-time psychiatrist. As the organization grew and achieved CCBHC status, the partnership expanded significantly. By 2022, Iris supported High Plains with seven psychiatric providers and 10 therapists. Iris also provided a psychiatrist with substance use disorder and pain management expertise to work remotely as part of High Plains’ on-site medication-assisted treatment team. Additional remote therapists helped expand the organization’s clinical capacity and improve access for traditionally underserved populations, including aging adults, agricultural communities and Hispanic populations.
Results
The combination of CCBHC expansion and additional Iris Telehealth providers helped High Plains significantly improve access and speed to care. Wait times for initial assessments decreased from two weeks to three days, while access to psychiatric care improved from six weeks to two weeks. The partnership also supported expanded services, greater continuity of care and new programs designed to meet the needs of rural and underserved populations. According to High Plains CEO Walt Hill, the Iris partnership was instrumental in helping the organization successfully implement and maintain its CCBHC model.
To learn more about High Plains Mental Health Center, you can visit their website here. If you’d like learn more about collaborating with Iris to improve access to mental healthcare in your community, contact us today!