Workforce Solutions Jam: Leveraging AI to Streamline Administrative Tasks in Behavioral Health

Enhancing Provider Efficiency and Care Delivery

Artificial intelligence (AI) has the potential to free up valuable time by reducing the administrative burden on clinicians and other staff through automation and streamline tasks like documentation, billing, patient management and scheduling. That frees clinicians up to focus more on patient care, improving efficiency and reducing burnout. However, integrating AI into daily workflows isn’t always easy.

In this month’s Workforce Solutions Jam, you’ll hear from providers who will share their experiences with implementing AI technology to reduce their clinics’ administrative burdens. Join us for a candid conversation about the real-world impact, practical challenges and successes of AI on provider efficiency, patient care and clinician wellbeing.

Key highlights of the October Jam include:

• Finding the right AI tools and vendors to meet your organizational needs and goals.
• Utilizing AI to improve client outcomes and documentation compliance.
• Using AI as a recruitment and retention tool.
• Identifying practical challenges and barriers to AI implementation.
• Considerations for whether AI is the right tool for you.

Speaker Information

Ashley Kjos, PsyD, LP

Ashley Kjos, PsyD, LP, is a licensed psychologist and chief executive officer of Woodland Centers, a Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinic (CCBHC) in west central Minnesota. Dr. Kjos earned her Master’s and Doctorate in Clinical Psychology at Pacific University (Forest Grove, Oregon). After being a staff psychologist at Woodland Centers from 2011 to 2014, then the Clinical Director from 2014 to 2016, she became its CEO in 2016. As CEO, Dr. Kjos is responsible for the overall coordination of the internal operations of Woodland Centers. The agency has a seven-county catchment area and a robust continuum of outpatient, rehabilitative and residential behavioral health care programs serving the entire age range.

Dr. Kjos is very active in behavioral health services across the state through participation in various associations and serving on nonprofit boards. She has served on the board of directors of West Central Industries (WCI), a vocational rehabilitation service provider based out of Willmar, Minnesota, since October 2019, including as Chair (2023 to present). She has served as a board member on the Minnesota Association of Resources for Recovery and Chemical Health (MARRCH) since November 2019. Dr. Kjos has also been actively involved in the Minnesota Association of Community Mental Health Programs (MACMHP) since 2014, including advocating for public policy changes, training, collaboration with providers and associations across the state, and innovations in Minnesota’s mental health and substance use system of care. She began serving on the MACMHP board of directors in 2019, serving as treasurer (2021-2022) and chair (2022-2024). Dr. Kjos is committed to transforming the health care system in Minnesota. 

Garima Singh, MD

Garima Singh, MD, is the Chief Medical Officer at Burrell Behavioral Health and its parent company, Brightli. She is triple-board certified in American Board of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, General Psychiatry and Addiction Medicine. She also serves as an adjunct faculty in the Department of Psychiatry, University of Missouri and participates as an expert panelist for ECHO Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. Prior to her current position at Burrell Behavioral Health, she was the medical director at the Thompson Center for Autism and Neurodevelopment. Dr. Singh has been actively involved in teaching, multiple committees, and research projects related to mental illness and autism. In her current role she also focuses on novel methods of health care delivery including telehealth, integrated and collaborative care models, especially for rural and underserved areas. She has several publications and has presented at the state, national and international level. She specializes in child psychiatry and especially the cares of those with special needs, autism and developmental delays. She is passionate about bullying prevention and expansion of mental health services. 

Dr. Singh grew up in India, earning her medical degree there before completing a fellowship in child psychiatry at Southern Illinois University and her general psychiatry residency at the University of Missouri School of Medicine.

Zach Boyd, PhD

Zach Boyd, PhD, is the Director of the Office of Artificial Intelligence Policy at the Utah Department of Commerce. Dr. Boyd is a faculty member at Brigham Young University’s (BYU) mathematics department, where he teaches applied and computational mathematics. Dr. Boyd’s research lab focuses on artificial intelligence, machine learning and mathematical modeling in social science applications, such as psychology, economics and social networks. Before working at BYU, Dr. Boyd was a postdoctoral research associate at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, a National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate (NDSEG) Fellow at UCLA, a research associate at Los Alamos National Laboratory, and a Presidential Scholar at BYU.

The Workforce Solutions Jam is a monthly webinar to build national momentum and encourage collaboration through the Center for Workforce Solutions, a partnership between the National Council for Mental Wellbeing, The College for Behavioral Health Leadership and Health Management Associates.