Over the last two years, behavioral health (BH) has been one of the biggest growth areas in the health care ecosystem, fueled by the Public Health Emergency (PHE) but in many ways an ignored, overlooked, understaffed, and underfunded element of care delivery in the United States. Providers, payers, and investors―both public and private―have all taken notice. The coming year will be both an expansion of that growth and to some extent a consolidation of players and strategies across a broad swath of clinical niches. President Biden’s recent State of the Union address gave a decent roadmap of where the year may lead. His “Connect Americans to Care” plan will seek to:
Expand and strengthen parity under the 2008 Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act.
Integrate mental health and substance use treatment into primary care setting by increasing funding for primary and behavioral health integration programs and using existing authority through the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to:
Test payment models that support the delivery of whole-person care through behavioral health integration.
Authorize Medicaid reimbursement of inter-professional consultations so that primary care providers can consult with a specialist and provide needed care for patients.
Expand access to tele- and virtual mental health care options.
For the coming year ahead, the top opportunities and issues we see rolling off this policy agenda for investors, plans, and providers...
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