I recently had the opportunity to speak on a panel at the Amplify 2026 Urgent Care Convention in Chicago. There were several threads throughout the conference on how to integrate behavioral health into urgent care settings, demonstrating a recognized need within the industry to bridge this gap.

During my conversation, I was joined by Ernie Wallerstein Jr., president and CEO of Mental Health Technologies, and David Caltrider, M.D., chief medical officer of HealthCARE Express. Our discussion reinforced how the front door to mental health care is often primary care settings, but time constraints, administrative burdens, and a lack of integrated pathways are causing barriers.

Two men in suits speaking in front of a white conference room with a projector behind them.

Why urgent care is the missing link in mental health

One in five patients walking into urgent care has a behavioral health need, yet less than 50% of those who need help receive it.

I’ve spoken to countless doctors, and I know that the cause of this isn’t indifference. Urgent care providers are working within tight 10- to 15-minute visit windows. And there’s a lack of structured pathways to effectively identify, document, and act beyond the primary care needs.

This is something Thriveworks CEO Dan Frogel, M.D., deeply understands. As a former emergency and urgent care physician, he witnessed this reality day in and day out: patients presenting with anxiety, depression, or symptoms of other mental health conditions on top of physical ailments, with a prescription for one and a lack of treatment options for the other. That experience became the foundation of his mission at Thriveworks: to bridge the divide between physical and mental health care.

However, primary care providers (PCPs) and urgent care are where people in need of behavioral health services continue to turn. Thriveworks’ research shows that:

  • 18% of people first confide in a medical professional, such as an urgent care doctor, about mental health concerns (2025 Pulse on Mental Health).
  • 77% of people rely on their PCP’s recommendation when seeking mental health support (consumer insights research).

This means primary and urgent care settings aren’t just incidental touchpoints; they’re trusted gateways. For payers and health systems, this is a critical insight: patients are already walking through a door where behavioral health screening could happen. But in most cases, the infrastructure is lacking.

How automation can close the loop without adding to clinical workload

Clinical staff are overstretched, so the administrative burden is real. One solution highlighted during the panel was SmartTest AI from Mental Health Technologies.

Rather than adding workload to clinical staff, it automates the behavioral health screening and referral process, embedding it directly into the patient visit workflow. When a patient screens positive, the system can route them to an external behavioral health partner like Thriveworks, or redirect to internal ancillary services where available. It also supports early identification of high-risk patients, enabling timely intervention rather than reactive care.

For PCPs and health systems, the opportunity here is significant, and so far, largely untapped. Behavioral health conditions left unaddressed in urgent care become higher-cost downstream problems: ED visits, inpatient stays, chronic disease complications. Investing in screening infrastructure at the point of first contact is not just a clinical imperative—it’s a utilization management opportunity.