ALIGNMENT FOR PROGRESS: A MOVEMENT TO BRING CHANGE

The current psychiatric healthcare system is fragmented, the quality of care is variable, and outcomes are all too frequently suboptimal for our patients. While challenging and difficult, we need to transform the system of care if we aim to improve outcomes. The purpose of this panel is to discuss lessons learned from ongoing efforts to transform psychiatric care from the perspectives of public policy, the perspective of someone with lived experience, a comprehensive system to improve the care of people who experience their first episode of psychosis, and a learning health network focusing on bipolar disorder. Rebecca Bagley will discuss the ambitious efforts of The Kennedy Forum to reach its 90-9090 goals, aiming to screen 90% of the public for serious mental illness, provide evidencebased treatment to 90% of those affected, and help 90% of individuals improve. George McAllister will discuss his experience of treatment for bipolar disorder in the current system of care, what worked, and what did not. Lisa Dixon will discuss EPINET and ONTrackNY using a learning health system approach to improve the outcomes of young people with their first psychotic episode. Andrew Nierenberg will discuss the ongoing development of the Bipolar Action Network, a learning health improvement network across multiple healthcare systems designed to improve outcomes across the spectrum of bipolar disorder for all ages. Crystal Clark will discuss the challenges and successes of these efforts to improve care and outcomes.

References

Vohs JL, Cahill J, Taylor SF, Heckers S, Weiss A, Chaudhry S, Silverstein S, Tso IF, Breitborde NJ, Vinson A, Lapidos A. Forging a learning health system for early psychosis: Insights from the academic community EPINET. Schizophrenia Research. 2025 Apr 1;278:109-18. Nierenberg AA, Margolis P, Strakowski S, Trivedi M, Yatham LN, Blumberg HP, DelBello M, Duckworth K, Gorrindo T, Iosifescu D, Jackson J. A Bipolar Learning Health Network: An innovation whose time has come. Bipolar Disorders. 2023 May 1;25(3).