Segregated medical and mental health reimbursement for behavioral health (BH), i.e., mental health and substance use disorders, conditions in the United States is associated with non-treatment of nearly seventy percent of BH patients and ineffective treatment of another twenty percent. Only five to ten percent of BH patients, whether seen in the medical and BH sector, receive outcome-changing care. Further, while there is a perception that most seriously mentally ill patients are seen in the BH sector, in fact, most are seen and either untreated or ineffectively treated in the medical sector. For this reason, if health reform is going to bring value to patients with BH conditions, a new approach to support for BH services will be necessary. This presentation will discuss alternative payment models being tried to sustain value-added care for medical patients with BH comorbidity and BH patients with medical comorbidity and suggest one that is most likely to succeed.

This webinar is presented by The Office of Integrated Healthcare Research and Policy in the Department of Family Medicine at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. The webinar series is made possible with funding from the California Mental Health Services Authority Integrated Behavioral Health Project in partnership with the Collaborative Family Healthcare Association and the AHRQ Academy for Integrating Behavioral Health and Primary Care.