Digital Point Solutions Positioned for Value-Based Contracting, But Payers, EAPs and Providers Lack Consensus

Digital point solutions could have an advantage in the move toward value-based behavioral health care contracting. Tech-backed behavioral health providers have a leg up in collecting data to prove outcomes, and their virtual front-door approach could also lend itself to preventative behavioral health services. But for value-based contracting to take off in this space, payers, […]

How Value-Based Care Models Can Help Address the Hidden Costs of Eating Disorders

Eating disorders often go untreated. And when treated, it’s typically during a crisis, driving up care costs. But value-based care models could help lower the total cost of care by providing access to lower-acuity treatment and integrated care teams. Payers expanding access and wrap-around services to patients with an eating disorder often see cost savings […]

How Value-Based Care Makes the NOCD-Evernorth Deal Work

Technology adoption could change how patients, providers and payers experience the behavioral health industry. Leaders of the behavioral health tech startup NOCD and Evernorth, the services division of The Cigna Group (Nasdaq: CI), point to their partnership as an example of using technology to change the current combative nature of payer-provider relations into productive, patient-centered […]

Looming Regulatory Changes Could Remake MAT Access

The federal government is signaling big moves around deregulating medication-assisted treatment (MAT). Key federal stakeholders have indicated reforms are a top priority going forward. Already, the House of Representatives passed the Restoring Hope for Mental Health and Well-Being Act, potentially clearing the way for easier prescribing of methadone and buprenorphine. If realized, the changes to […]

Big Payers Want Behavioral Health Partners That Can Be More Than ‘A Flash In the Pan’

Behavioral health point solutions are increasingly looking to make lucrative payer partnerships. Payers, too, are interested in the prospect of partnering with digital health companies to provide more behavioral health services to their members. But there can be a culture clash between the two entities. Thus, it’s crucial to have aligned goals, outcomes and expectations, […]

What Cigna’s Evernorth Plans Mean for Behavioral Health

Cigna Corp. (NYSE: CI) will double down on Evernorth as part of its growth plan. Evernorth is the health care services division of the Bloomfield, Connecticut-based insurer. Through Evernorth and its insurance plan business, Cigna is more and more relevant in the behavioral health space. Cigna has more than doubled Evernorth’s behavioral health network — […]

4 Behavioral Health Legislation Trends to Watch

This session of Congress is heading toward its close — and several points of behavioral health legislation are still not resolved. Parity, workforce and telehealth regulations are some of the most pressing issues for stakeholders heading into 2023. A number of mental health bills are still on the table as well. But as the clock […]

Cigna CEO: The Integration of Behavioral and Physical Health Among the ‘Indisputable Forces’ Shaping Health Care

The integration of behavioral health and physical health is one of the “indisputable forces” shaping health care at Cigna (NYSE: CI). This, coupled with the advancements and adoption of digital tools, could make mental and integrated health services more streamlined, Cigna CEO David Cordani said Tuesday during Morgan Stanely’s Annual Global Healthcare Conference. “The big […]

Evernorth, Bicycle Health Deal Gives Cigna Members Access to Virtual Opioid Use Disorder Care

Bicycle Health, a virtual opioid use disorder (OUD) treatment startup, announced Thursday it joined Evernorth’s enormous behavioral health network. Evernorth, the health services business of Bloomfield, Connecticut-based health insurance behemoth Cigna Corp (NYSE: CI), now grants access to Bicycle Health’s services to all of its clients and to the Cigna employer or marketplace exchange plan […]