SUD Treatment Providers Adapting to Market Pressures Through Payer Relations, Service Integration

The substance use disorder (SUD) treatment industry was formerly dotted by small, local providers. In the future, these mom-and-pop providers may go the way of cottage businesses during the Industrial Revolution. To be clear, SUD treatment has not yet been completely limited to assembly lines. Small providers still abound. At the recent Behavioral Health Business […]

Health Care Service Corporation Adds TMS Coverage for Adolescents as First-Line Treatment

Until recently, adolescents only had two treatment options for depression. Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for adolescents in March, now represents a safe and effective third option. While TMS is relatively expensive compared to treatment modalities like pharmaceuticals, payers are increasingly covering the service for teens. Health Care […]

‘Impossible to Operationalize’: What the New Parity Rule Really Means for Behavioral Health Providers, Payers

The rollout of the final parity rule feels like a much-needed win in an industry that has been muddling through ever-increasing challenges for years. That’s as long as the final rule goes unchallenged in the courts, of course. Savoring this positive regulatory development is important: Behavioral health professionals need to find proverbial rays of sunshine […]

Providers Beware: Behavioral Health Parity Rule Won’t Fix All of the Industry’s Problems

The Biden administration’s new parity rule puts health plans and regulators on the same page when it comes to parity enforcement. In many instances, that’s quite literally the case. Finalized on Sept. 9, the new rule focuses on updated requirements for health plans to generate reports comparing how they treat behavioral health benefits compared to […]

Citing Increased Payer and Health System Demand, Brightside Health Expands into Teen Mental Health Services

Behavioral health providers are increasingly expanding care continuums to include teenagers and meet the growing need for age-specific care. Virtual behavioral health provider Brightside Health is the latest to do so. Announced Tuesday, its expansion into care options for teens aims to address what Brad Kittredge, founder and CEO of Brightside, calls a “teen mental […]

Why BasePoint Is Betting on Age-Specific Mental Health Care

BasePoint Academy is a father-son business whose start was inspired by a family tragedy. Twelve years ago, Brittany Serpa, the sister of BasePoint’s CEO Blake Serpa, and daughter of company chairman Roy Serpa, completed suicide after struggling as a teen with bipolar disorder. Then in 2019, Roy Serpa, a longtime health care executive, began to […]

Wit v. United Behavioral Health Proves the Courts Are the Wrong Place to Reform Health Plan Oversight

Don’t give up hope just yet on the parity fight in the courts following the latest development in Wit v. United Behavioral Health. But don’t forget this: No shortage of the collective troubles of the American political and business worlds come from expecting the courts to see things a certain way. If behavioral health care wants […]

Shared Savings in Behavioral Health: A Realistic Approach to Value-Based Care

Fee-for-service reimbursement models incentivize behavioral health providers to deliver more services – in some instances, even when medically unnecessary, some would point out. Value-based care – paying for quality and outcomes instead of volume – has been heralded as the behavioral health industry’s path away from fee-for-service models. Challenges, including tension between health plans and […]

‘Nobody Is Going to Fight Getting a Child Treated’: Payers More Open to Covering TMS

Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is becoming a more viable option for the treatment of depression in youth and adults, providing hope for those with treatment-resistant depression.  Of the roughly 22 million American adults who experienced a major depressive episode in 2023, about 30% have treatment-resistant depression, meaning that multiple medications have failed to alleviate their […]

How Addiction Providers Are Integrating Services for Co-Occurring Conditions

Many behavioral health providers have traditionally operated in silos, leaving patients to navigate a fragmented system of care for substance use disorders (SUDs), mental illnesses and other co-occurring conditions.  SUD providers are now working to break down these barriers and offer more comprehensive, holistic treatments that address the full spectrum of a patient’s needs by […]