Behavioral health patients account for 41 percent of healthcare spend, according to research published by Evernorth, the health services division of the Cigna Group.
Although 22 percent of patients have been diagnosed with a behavioral health condition, only 50 percent of diagnosed patients seek treatment. However, those patients with diagnosed behavioral health conditions still drive a large portion of healthcare spend for the entire population.
Evernorth's analysis of 6 million patients also found that the prevalence of behavioral health conditions grew by 4 percent between 2021 and 2022, with attention-deficit hyperactivity, personality disorder and autism spectrum disorder seeing the largest growth.