Pandemic Illuminates Need for Mental Health Care Reforms

An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that Psych Hub is creating “provider ratings.” A Psych Hub representative tells AIS Health that the company is instead “working to identify universal quality outcome measures.” This version has been corrected to clarify that distinction.

With unmeasurable stress and trauma caused by the pandemic, the U.S.’s longstanding shortage of behavioral health care has become an acute crisis — making improvements to the way treatment is paid for a more urgent issue than ever. Fortunately, new trends in quality measures, network design and reimbursement could help the health insurance industry improve access and affordability for behavioral health care to members.

“Clearly, I think there’s been a crisis forming and building throughout COVID, and this crisis on mental health isn’t going to go away,” says Ashraf Shehata, national sector leader for health care and life sciences at KPMG. He draws a contrast between the disruption caused to physical medicine by the pandemic and what has happened with behavioral health care.

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Peter Johnson

Peter Johnson

Peter has worked as a journalist since 2011 and has covered health care since 2020. At AIS Health, Peter covers trends in finance, business and policy that affect the health insurance and pharma sectors. For Health Plan Weekly, he covers all aspects of the U.S. health insurance sector, including employer-sponsored insurance, Medicaid managed care, Medicare Advantage and the Affordable Care Act individual marketplaces. In Radar on Drug Benefits, Peter covers the operations of (and conflicts between) pharmacy benefit managers and pharmaceutical manufacturers, with a particular focus on pricing dynamics and market access. Before joining AIS Health, Peter covered transportation, public safety and local government for various outlets in Seattle, his hometown and current place of residence. He graduated with a B.A. from Colby College.

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