Behavioral Health

Chesterfield, Mo.-based Mercy has spent the past five years scaling a collaborative care management model across roughly 300 clinics in four states. Its goal has been to integrate behavioral health into routine medical care while working through payer adoption, technology…

Advanced monthly payments from the 2021 Child Tax Credit expansion were associated with short-term improvements in child behavioral health, but those gains disappeared after the payments ended, according to a Dec. 10 study published in The Milbank Quarterly.  Congress established…

In 2024, Cigna’s Evernorth Behavioral Care Group launched to address rising behavioral health needs, beginning with virtual services in six markets and a network of 1,000 providers.  As of November, Evernorth has expanded to more than 5,000 providers across all…

Renton, Wash.-based Providence’s Well-Being Trust focused on expanding access to behavioral healthcare in 2025 through whole-person care, caregiver support programs and partnerships that served vulnerable populations, according to Arpan Waghray, MD, CEO of Providence’s Well Being Trust.  Here are five…

A digital platform that connects primary care patients to behavioral health services reduced hospital visits while increasing access to outpatient care, according to a new study published in the December issue of the American Journal of Managed Care. Researchers from…

Sierra Vista, Ariz.-based Canyon Vista Medical Center has implemented a new intake and assessment process for patients experiencing mental and behavioral health emergencies.  The redesign allows patients to bypass the traditional emergency department and go directly to an assessment within…

Olympia-based Washington State Health Care Authority and Washington State Department of Health have released a new resource library to help clinicians and emergency responders prescribe and administer medications for opioid use disorder.  The virtual toolkit comprises videos, printable guides, testimonials…

About a dozen states are experiencing a surge in emergency department visits related to a new combination of fentanyl and a sedative 100 to 200 times more potent than xylazine, The New York Times reported Dec. 15.  The dangerous drug…

It has been noted that the biggest problem with behavioral health referrals is that most patients, regardless of insurance coverage, do not make it into specialty care after they are referred.1 Low completion rates may be due to lack of…

Behavioral healthcare made up 40% of all medical spending for U.S. children in 2022 — nearly double the share from 2011 — according to a study published Dec. 15 in JAMA Pediatrics. The findings highlight sharp increases in out-of-pocket costs…