Medicaid Transformation Project Targets Behavioral Health

Twenty-eight health systems have agreed to adopt and drive the widespread use of new solutions targeting a spectrum of behavioral health concerns, including untreated depression, teen suicide and post-traumatic stress disorder.

The work is part of a national initiative announced last year called the Medicaid Transformation Project, a collaborative effort to transform healthcare and related social needs for the nearly 75 million Americans who rely on Medicaid. The project includes deploying digital innovations in behavioral healthcare where appropriate.

The project detailed the extent of the behavioral health crisis:

• 44.7 million American adults – including 10 million adults covered by Medicaid – experienced a mental health illness as of 2016, a number that is likely underestimated due to issues of stigma^.

• Approximately 35 percent of adults with a serious mental illness are not receiving mental health treatment^.

• More than 25 percent of teens are impacted by at least mild symptoms of depression. Untreated depression puts teens at a higher risk to die from suicide, misuse drugs or alcohol, do poorly in school, or run away.

• Beyond issues of care, there are challenges of cost: serious mental illness leads to $193 billion in lost earnings in the United States annually and spending on Medicaid beneficiaries with mental health needs is nearly four times greater than for peer beneficiaries^.

The health systems plan to build comprehensive behavioral health strategies that incorporate innovative digital tools and clinical best practices. They will evaluate and implement solutions to improve areas like crisis intervention, school-based health services and care management.

"As jarring as the national behavioral health statistics are, they only serve as the tip of the iceberg for the long-term consequences that we risk if we don’t take wide-reaching, decisive action to address this crisis today,” said Andy Slavitt, chair for the Medicaid Transformation Project, former acting administrator of CMS, and general partner at Town Hall Ventures, in a statement. “Twenty-eight healthcare organizations have stepped up to proclaim with a singular, unmistakable voice that enough is enough. Within the next year, I expect dozens of new positive initiatives to launch. Within five to seven years, we could spark the transformation the country needs.”

Joining Slavitt in guiding the initiative are Vikki Wachino, former head of the Center for Medicaid and CHIP Services at CMS, and Molly Coye, former Commissioner of Health for the State of New Jersey and Director of the California Department of Health Services.

The Behavioral Health Initiative kicked off on April 23 with an Action Forum that included many of the nation’s most innovative health systems. More than 100 leaders from each of the participating 28 health systems took steps toward expanding the capabilities necessary to build a comprehensive behavioral health strategy.

The project has analyzed more than 150 digital innovations in behavioral healthcare to create a shortlist of 11 solutions and current best practices that were demonstrated at the Action Forum. The project said its selection methodology and guidance enables health systems to tailor decisions to their individual organizations’ needs, accelerate their decision making and ultimately achieve enduring impact for patients.