At Connections, the relationships between our team members and the people they serve are at the heart of everything we do. We see technology as a way to strengthen those relationships, supporting the people who deliver care and the individuals who receive it.
In a recent conversation on the Becker’s Healthcare Podcast, Colin LeClair, chief executive officer at Connections, shared how we are approaching artificial intelligence: as a way to improve care delivery, reduce administrative burden, and give our clinicians more time with patients, because nothing replaces the human connection at the core of our model.
Why it matters to our model
Connections operates behavioral health crisis care centers that provide immediate, multidisciplinary care and help individuals avoid unnecessary inpatient stays. As we expand nationally, we are exploring how AI could support care teams by bringing together fragmented medical, behavioral health, and social information to provide a more complete picture of each individual at the point of care.
Administrative simplification
Our first priority is reducing administrative work so frontline teams can spend more time caring for individuals in crisis. Behavioral health clinicians spend a significant portion of their day moving paperwork, tracking down records and searching for information. While the burden varies by role, it takes valuable time from patient care in an industry already facing workforce shortages. Giving that time back can directly improve outcomes. “More time with the patient is going to lead to better outcomes. It’s also going to lead to faster treatment and faster stabilization.” Colin shared
Supporting whole-person care
AI is helping us move toward the goal of streamlining record retrieval, reducing manual data entry and connecting information across systems. At the same time, AI supports clinical judgment rather than replaces it. We are taking a measured approach to implementation, keeping our clinicians at the center of decision-making while evaluating every tool for accuracy, safety, and practical value. We measure success through time savings, quality, and safety outcomes, clinician adoption, and clear before-and-after performance data.
Where we are headed
Looking ahead, we see AI helping behavioral health providers practice more holistic, outcomes-focused care by connecting psychiatric, medical and psychosocial needs in one view. Colin’s advice to other leaders is straightforward: clean up your data, improve your workflows and identify a specific problem before applying AI.
With that foundation, and clinicians guiding the work, technology can become a practical lever for better access, stronger care and more sustainable behavioral health systems.
Listen to the full the full Becker’s Healthcare Podcast conversation with Colin LeClair to learn more about how Connections is exploring AI to support clinicians and improve care delivery: Colin LeClair, CEO of Connections Health Solutions - Becker's Hospital Review | Healthcare News & Analysis