Employers are increasingly seeking out behavioral health benefits to improve employee care and save on long-term health costs. Providers have, in turn, stepped up to expand employer offerings.

These employer offerings have meaningful returns, according to new research published in JAMA Network Open. Researchers found that employers saved $190 in overall medical claims cost for every $100 invested. 

“These findings suggest that expanding access to behavioral health care may be a financially viable cost-reduction strategy for health care buyers,” the study’s authors wrote.

While employer-sponsored behavioral health plans abound, research into their efficacy is relatively limited. Previous research has also found that such plans result in positive returns for employers but suggested that they may not increase behavioral health care utilization. 

The new JAMA Network Open study found that utilization did increase, jumping by 47% compared to the year before the behavioral health plan launch. Researchers attribute this to reduced financial barriers to care and an easy-to-use digital platform.

The study specifically analyzed data from employer-sponsored behavioral health company Spring Health. New York City-based Spring connects employees to its host of psychotherapists, psychologists, psychiatrists, nurse practitioners, coaches and clinical care navigators.

The company has a $3.3 billion valuation and an estimated total funding amount of $466.5 million, including a $100 million raise completed in July 2024. The study’s researchers are affiliated with and hold equity in Spring Health. 

Researchers included data from almost 14,000 people, half of whom received benefits from workforce behavioral health provider Spring Health, with the other half serving as a control group.

Behavioral health costs increased for the Spring Health group, associated with increased utilization, but spending was lower for office, emergency department and hospital visits.

“Prior research has shown that office visits, emergency department visits and hospital visits are characterized by infrequent or brief treatment episodes rather than comprehensive courses of care and, consequently, are less clinically effective than behavioral healthcare,” researchers wrote. “Earlier use of the program, shown previously to have large clinical effect sizes, may have prevented behavioral health conditions from escalating to the point that they required more time and cost-intensive settings such as the emergency department or inpatient stays.”

The study also found that three physical health conditions – chronic pain, hypertension and gastrointestinal conditions – had “substantial savings that could not be explained by their level of medical risk alone.” The savings may have been related to increased behavioral health utilization because physical conditions can be linked to stress, anxiety and depression.

Researchers found that the study’s results support the expansion of behavioral health access as a cost-saving and overall health-improving strategy.