If we want a brighter future for mental healthcare and substance use treatment, we have to work together. We have to bring the right people, plan, and resources together to get the results we want. That’s where the Path Forward comes in. We’re a coalition of healthcare purchasers, clinician associations, health systems, philanthropists and health-related nonprofits united by one goal: giving mental healthcare the brightest possible future. And we could use your help.
How We Plan to Get There
By restructuring how leading health purchasers, health systems, regulators, and other partners approach their mental healthcare and substance use treatment offerings, we are driving structural changes in these areas:
Equitable Access
Increasing access in-network for the full range of behavioral health needs with specialty care that is timely, accessible, equitable, and adequately reimbursed by insurers. This includes psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, and other counselors, as well as mental health and substance use treatment facilities.
Collaborative Care: The Gold Standard for Behavioral Health Integration
Accelerating integration of mental health into the general medical system with the evidence-based model best able to equip the primary care providers who already identify and treat the most mental health cases and prescribe the most psychotropic medication. This includes pediatrics, family medicine, internal medicine, obstetrics-gynecology, and other clinicians who are among America’s most beloved and trusted confidants.
High Quality Care
Promoting national standards and accelerating adoption of precision medicine, person-centered care, and measurement-based care integrated across specialty mental health and primary care settings, just like we do now for cancer, heart disease, and other common chronic conditions.
Recent Progress
Feb 27, 2024
ReportMeadows Mental Health Policy Institute Shares Results of its Novel Study on the Collaborative Care Model
In February 2024, the Journal of General Internal Medicine published “Extending the Clinical Impact of Behavioral Health Prescribing Clinicians Using the Collaborative Care Model,” a report detailing a novel study by experts at the Meadows Mental Health Policy Institute (MMHPI).
Dec 14, 2023
BriefingPath Forward Applauds Inseparable for Their Focus on High-Impact Actions
A new set of recommendations from Inseparable identifies a number of policies to improve access to mental health care.
Nov 1, 2023
EventAPA’s 2023 Mental Health Conference Features Discussion of Pediatric Collaborative Care Model
The 2023 Mental Health Services Conference of the American Psychiatric Association featured a discussion of the pediatric Collaborative Care Model that was led by a team from the Meadows Institute.
Our Resources For Many
Find tools, presentations and more to ensure your health system or practice has everything it needs to provide quality care for all those who seek it.
Provider ResourcesReceive Employer Action Plan, sample contract language, and detailed data requests you can use to shape your organization’s benefits offerings and develop smart contracts with insurers.
Employer ResourcesGet information on early detection methods, Collaborative Care in pediatricians’ offices, school walkthroughs, and more to ensure the health of our nation’s future.
Pediatrician and School ResourcesDownload metrics, measures, and standards you can use to align your company’s policies with the Federal parity law and ensure those insured have adequate access and coverage.
Insurer Resources
