Moving Beyond the Fragmentation of Behavioral Healthcare

Achieving optimal health cannot rely on improving physical health alone. Our holistic health journeys must nurture emotional resilience, a sense of well-being, and overall mental and physical health. Research conducted by the National Institute of Mental Health highlights the correlation between depression and an elevated risk of developing chronic physical conditions such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease. In fact, individuals with depression demonstrated a 1.5 times higher risk of 29 medical conditions in a study highlighted by the JAMA, with the highest incidence of endocrine, musculoskeletal, and circulatory issues. While efforts to address behavioral heath have been prioritized in the United States, particularly in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, there are still existing barriers that contribute to gaps in care enabling the mental health crisis.

Key Barriers in Behavioral Healthcare

Key barriers contributing to gaps in care include:

• Increased demand for quality mental healthcare services has resulted from a growing need, coupled with the limited availability, of high-quality mental health professionals
• Financial barriers resulting from rising healthcare costs
• Mental health disparities experienced by underserved communities and disadvantaged populations
• Fragmented healthcare delivery system driven by continued lack of integration and bidirectional data exchange

Building off the attention to these barriers during the pandemic, health plans have an opportunity to redesign how behavioral healthcare is delivered to their members. Consideration needs to be given to the creation of a care delivery ecosystem that embeds behavioral healthcare as a fundamental component of treating physical health.

Behavioral Health Goes Beyond Mental Illness

Behavioral health refers to the branch of healthcare that focuses on the relationship between a person’s behaviors, thoughts, and emotions and their overall well-being. It encompasses the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of mental health disorders, substance abuse disorders, and other conditions that impact an individual’s mental and emotional well-being.

The latest studies in healthcare recognize that behavioral health is not solely confined to mental illnesses but also encompasses a broader spectrum of conditions including addictive behaviors, stress-related disorders, neurodiversity conditions, and lifestyle factors that influence health outcomes. Behavioral health emphasizes the interplay between biological, psychological, social, and environmental factors in shaping an individual’s mental health. Key components of behavioral health include:

• Mental Health Disorders:  The identification, assessment, and treatment of mental illnesses such as depression, anxiety disorders, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and others.
• Prevention and Early Intervention:  Mitigate the development and progression of mental health disorders and substance abuse.
• Integrated Care: Incorporate behavioral health services into primary care settings. Provide comprehensive, patient-centered care that addresses both medical and behavioral needs. Promote early identification of mental health concerns, collaborative treatment planning, and shared decision-making.
• Social Determinants of Health: Socioeconomic status, education, housing, access to quality care, and community factors all affect mental health outcomes. Provide informed interventions that address systemic inequities and promote mental health equity.
• Technology and Digital Interventions: Enhance the access, engagement, and effectiveness of behavioral health services through technology including digital interventions, telemedicine, mobile applications, and wearable devices. The best-in-class behavioral health technology aims to develop and evaluate interventions for prevention, assessment, and ongoing support.

Achieving a Holistic Care Experience

Risk Strategies Consulting examined the current healthcare ecosystem and found that current fragmentation of care prohibits patients (i.e., health plan members) from achieving a holistic care experience. Learn more about our findings in our white paper, Revealing the “Right” Behavioral Health Solutions – Making Sense of the Ecosystem to Transform Care. Additionally, given the criticality of behavioral healthcare and its foundational place in whole health, we have undertaken a comprehensive RFI designed to determine distinct value propositions and ROI modelling for and by a number of behavioral health management entities. We plan on publishing excerpts from our research in the coming weeks.

Learn more about Risk Strategies Consulting or email us at riskstrategiesconsulting@risk-strategies.com.