The U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is considering creating the first national directory of health care providers and services. The agency floated those plans in a Wednesday announcement.

Such a move could have major implications for the notoriously fragmented behavioral health industry. CMS is pitching the directory as a way to help patients find up-to-date information about providers in their network and reduce provider reporting requirements.

It could likewise foster further collaboration between payers and providers.

A new directory could mean a “single, centralized system,” which would create more accuracy in patient searches. It would also allow payers to update their directory through an Application Programming Interface (API), leading to easier data sharing capabilities and data reporting.

CMS has put out a Request for Information (RFI) to the public to solicit feedback on potential directory services. The request-for-information period will be open until Dec. 6, 2022.

“Easy access to accurate and useful provider directory information is critical for patients trying to find health care that best meets their individualized needs and preferences,” CMS Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure said in a statement. “CMS is seeking comment on how a National Directory of Health Care Providers and Services could better serve patients and reduce unnecessary burden placed on providers to maintain dozens of separate directories. We look forward to hearing from our stakeholders on the need for a single source for this information for the entire health sector.”

Historically payers have struggled to keep accurate records of behavioral health provider networks. Finding an accurate list of in-network behavioral health providers can be particularly hard for Medicaid patients.

In fact, Health Affairs research found that 67.4% of mental health prescribers and 59% of mental health non-prescribers in Oregon’s Medicaid directory were “phantom” providers that did not actually accept Medicaid patients.

Finding in-network behavioral health providers can even be a challenge for individuals with commercial insurance.

Some payers are tapping digital tools to help remedy this. In August CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield is teaming up with mental health startup Headway on a new effort to help members more easily find behavioral health providers in-network.

“It’s a fragmented cottage industry that’s hard for members to navigate,” Brian Wheeler, VP of provider collaboration and network transformation at CareFirst, told Behavioral Health Business in August. “We wanted to organize it in a way that was a win for members and a win for our practitioners.”