Improving Behavioral Health Care for Youth Through Collaborative Care Expansion

See more at the Meadows Institute site

As the first phase of a two-phase project with The Commonwealth Fund to advance the collaborative care model (CoCM) for youth, this white paper provides a national scan of Medicaid programs to understand which states cover CoCM and how.

Mental health systems in the United States are not set up to detect and treat mental illness early in disease onset, thus failing to meet demands of the mental health crisis facing adolescents and transition-age youth (TAY). While CoCM is an evidenced-based solution that can scale early detection and treatment, its uptake among health systems and primary care providers has been slow. Medicaid plays a key role in the adoption of CoCM for youth, yet its availability across the nation is uneven.

Only 22 states have CoCM as a covered Medicaid benefit. Many states’ benefit coverage is inconsistent with Medicare, reimbursement rates are often low, and very few states provide incentives or technical assistance for implementing the model.

Congress, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, and state Medicaid authorities can act to implement the CoCM Medicaid benefit, ensure reimbursement rates allow the model to be financially viable for providers, and provide funding for implementation costs and technical assistance.

To learn more, view and download the full white paper, Improving Behavioral Health Care for Youth Through Collaborative Care Expansion .