Avenue 360 Health & Wellness to Use bhworks for Behavioral Health Care

Baltimore, MD — Avenue 360 Health & Wellness in Houston, Texas, is the newest mdlogix client with seven of its clinical sites using our bhworks software platform for referral and care coordination, data collection, and population dashboard outcome measures. Avenue 360’s medical team provides primary, behavioral health, community wellness, housing, and dental care for patients at the beginning to the end of life, as well as operating a reduced-cost pharmacy.

Avenue 360 received a five-year SBIRT (Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment) grant from the federal government’s Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) to address behavioral health issues.

“This $5 million initiative allows us to implement universal substance use screening for our patient population and conduct specialized interventions,” said Sondra Smith LCDC, who leads recovery support at Avenue 360. “The effort—unique in Houston’s community health system– comes as more people in the region are coping with the stressors brought by the pandemic. Utilizing the innovative bhworks software platform will help our care team respond quickly and effectively to minimize the negative health outcomes associated with substance use.”

With bhworks, Avenue 360 patients will self-report responses on any web-enabled device such as a tablet, laptop, or desktop computer. Results will be automatically scored, summarized, and ready for review by Avenue 360 clinicians. In addition to screening for multiple mental health conditions including depression, anxiety, trauma, substance misuse, and suicide ideation, the assessment identifies psychosocial risk factors, positive and negative, such as exposure to violence, including military service, family dynamic, and work/school activities.

Once a patient is screened and assessed, the bhworks software platform offers online consent, referrals, and care coordination, allows providers to communicate with patients via virtual visits, and securely collects data to see outcomes in real time. bhworks adheres to all data privacy and security measures (HIPAA compliant).

The Avenue 360 staff will fill out the GPRA-required (Government Performance and Results Act) National Outcomes Measures (NOMs) patient interview results directly in the bworks software platform, which automatically submits it to SPARS (the Performance Accountability and Reporting System) used by SAMHSA. This software process significantly reduces data reporting time and eliminates nearly all data errors.

GPRA requires federal agencies to set specific near-term and long-term performance goals. Federal grantees, like Avenue 360, are required to collect and report NOMs data.

“Data can be efficiently put into SPARS in real time with bhworks,” said Allen Tien, MD, MHS, mdlogix president and chief science officer. “We can help SAMHSA grantees, as well as grantees for other federal agencies, rapidly get data flowing with minimal errors to government reporting systems to meet their grant requirements.”

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mdlogix, home of bhworks, designs software that combines science and practice. We are on a mission with our clients to improve behavioral health care together. Learn more about bhworks and ask for a demo today.