For health plans today, some of the most challenging issues to solve are those of improving access and improving outcomes. Yet, the  state of mental health in the world today requires new solutions to address these continuing challenges. With the U.S. facing a youth mental health crisis and nearly half of Gen Zs and 40% of millennials feeling stressed or anxious all or most of the time, it is clear that solutions are needed to better support people around the world.

Last month, leading payors and health systems from across the country joined us in San Francisco to discuss the most pressing challenges and opportunities in mental healthcare today. Leaders discussed the state of mental healthcare and our unique opportunities within the healthcare industry to offer innovative solutions that improve mental health and ultimately improve overall health outcomes and well-being. 

Some key takeaways were top of mind:‍

1. Addressing mental healthcare access goes beyond just hiring more clinicians – it involves adding additional layers of care.‍

As clinician shortages continue to worsen in mental healthcare, it’s time to take a new approach to addressing access barriers. By adding additional layers of care,  like content and behavioral health coaching, we can open the doors to more easily accessible care that is clinically validated and improves outcomes. These additional layers in a collaborative care model mean that those who do rise to the layers of therapy and psychiatry are the ones who truly need it – and those who could be best served by coaching or content can do that too, easily and quickly.

2. Engagement and outcomes are deeply intertwined. You can’t have one without the other. ‍

Mental health solutions will be hard pressed to find success without considering the impact of member engagement on outcomes – and vice-versa. Leaders discussed the importance of considering a variety of potential barriers to engagement and providing personalized care that keeps members engaged. They also dove into the importance of measurement-based care in ensuring that outcomes are measurable and impactful.

3. For a mental health solution to be valuable for health plans, it must be able to demonstrate impact on costs, outcomes, and ease of access.

‍Seeing improved outcomes and engagement as a result of a mental health solution can be seen as a major win. Yet, the work is not done – it’s critical that outcomes and engagement can be tied to tangible ROI in order for mental healthcare solutions to demonstrate their value for both health plans and members.

4. If we're to truly move toward value-based care in mental health, we must rethink mental health's impact on members' total health.‍

It’s important to consider not only how mental healthcare impacts mental health outcomes and costs, but how it impacts total health. Part of this involves re-examining the role digital behavioral health providers have in integrating within the healthcare ecosystem, including across commercial, Medicaid and Medicare, to improve "whole-person” care. Leaders agreed that organizations across the healthcare industry can innovate and deliver these products that improve outcomes – but it will be a challenge to scale if we can’t effectively find ways to reimburse for them and make them affordable. ‍

5. Addressing mental health in Medicaid populations requires additional considerations and innovative approaches.‍

In comparison to commercial populations, Medicaid members disproportionately have higher levels of mental health need – but are also facing barriers like social determinants of health that make accessing mental healthcare and improving mental well-being a challenge. Leaders must consider these unique barriers when rolling out new mental healthcare solutions. They must also consider creative opportunities – like leveraging community resources, chat-based care on mobile devices, and more to meet members where they are.‍

6. Proposed rules around mental health parity put the pressure on health plans to address access challenges – fast.‍

In 2023, new rules related to The Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008 (MHPAEA) were proposed with an aim to ensure that the impact of parity is equal – meaning that access is possible at the same rate for mental healthcare that it is for medical/surgical care. What’s more, there may be increased enforcement activity as a result of broad non-compliance historically.

This means that health plans have to consider ways to ensure that members are able to easily access high-quality, clinically appropriate mental healthcare – and are considering innovative solutions like coaching, virtual care, and more to address these challenges.

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Interested in learning how Headspace can support your organization to offer more personalized care to improve member mental health? Contact us here.