Achieving Value in Mental Health Support

There continues to be widespread concern across the country among purchasers and purchaser coalitions on several issues impacting access to behavioral health specialists, as well as the quality and management of patients with mental health and substance use
issues by both primary care and behavioral health specialists.

These concerns include:

• Members are not able to consistently access clinicians in their network in a timely fashion
• Consistent use of measurement-based care (validated instruments to identify and monitor progress) is not standard practice among primary care physicians or specialists
• Stigma and silence around behavioral health conditions remains prevalent and limits effective workforce performance and engagement
• Escalating suicide and opiate related death rates

The National Alliance of Healthcare Purchaser Coalitions (National Alliance) developed a collective agenda that supports all stakeholders (employers, health plans, behavioral health organizations and providers) in taking action to address these issues. To support this effort, a new eValue8TM module—the “2018 Mental Health Deep Dive” was developed to assess the current performance of health plans and behavioral health organizations across key areas in behavioral health (mental health and substance use disorder, MH/SUD) including support provided to primary care physicians who treat the majority of people with mild/moderate MH/SUD issues. Because of the enthusiastic support and engagement of the diverse array of MH/SUD experts, coalition leaders, and purchasers participating in the development of the questions, we have great confidence that we’ve developed the most thorough assessment of mental health support conducted in the past decade.