Article Abstract

Online ISSN: 1099-176X    Print ISSN: 1091-4358
The Journal of Mental Health Policy and Economics
Volume 26, Issue 4, 2023. Pages: 149-158
Published Online: 1 December 2023

Copyright © 2023 ICMPE.

Financial Sustainability of Novel Delivery Models in Behavioral Health Treatment

Dominic Hodgkin,¹* Constance M. Horgan,¹ Stephanie Jordan Brown,² Gavin Bart,³ Maureen T. Stewart¹

¹Institute for Behavioral Health, Heller School for Social Policy and Management, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA, USA.
²Independent consultant, Newton, MA, USA.
³Department of Medicine, Hennepin Healthcare, and Division of Addiction Medicine, University of Minnesota Medical School, Minneapolis, MN, USA.

In the US, much of the research into new interventions and delivery models for behavioral health care is funded through time-limited grants to develop and test the new interventions.  This poses challenges to the diffusion of delivery innovations, given the continued dominance of fee-for-service reimbursement. We review US experience with three specific novel delivery models developed in recent years: the collaborative care model for depression, outpatient based opioid treatment (OBOT), and the certified community behavioral health clinic (CCBHC) model.  A common challenge for all three models has been their inclusion of services that were not (initially) reimbursable under fee-for-service payment.  However, even establishing new procedure codes may not be enough to give providers the flexibility needed to implement these models, unless payers also implement alternative payment models. Research funders need to speed up the process of obtaining coverage for novel delivery models, including the development of new billable service codes.

Background: In the US, much of the research into new intervention and delivery models for behavioral health care is funded by research institutes and foundations, typically through grants to develop and test the new interventions. The original grant funding is typically time-limited. This implies that eventually communities, clinicians, and others must find resources to replace the grant funding –otherwise the innovation will not be adopted. Diffusion is challenged by the continued dominance in the US of fee-for-service reimbursement, especially for behavioral health care.

Aims: To understand the financial challenges to disseminating innovative behavioral health delivery models posed by fee-for-service reimbursement, and to explore alternative payment models that promise to accelerate adoption by better addressing need for flexibility and sustainability.

Methods: We review US experience with three specific novel delivery models that emerged in recent years. The models are: collaborative care model for depression (CoCM), outpatient based opioid treatment (OBOT), and the certified community behavioral health clinic (CCBHC) model. These examples were selected as illustrating some common themes and some different issues affecting diffusion. For each model, we discuss its core components; evidence on its effectiveness and cost-effectiveness; how its dissemination was funded; how providers are paid; and what has been the uptake so far.

Results: The collaborative care model has existed for longest, but has been slow to disseminate, due in part to a lack of billing codes for key components until recently. The OBOT model faced that problem, and also (until recently) a regulatory requirement requiring physicians to obtain federal waivers in order to prescribe buprenorphine. Similarly, the CCBHC model includes previously nonbillable services, but it appears to be diffusing more successfully than some other innovations, due in part to the approach taken by funders.

Discussion: A common challenge for all three models has been their inclusion of services that were not (initially) reimbursable in a fee-for-service system. However, even establishing new procedure codes may not be enough to give providers the flexibility needed to implement these models, unless payers also implement alternative payment models.

Implications for Health Care Provision and Use: For providers who receive time-limited grant funding to implement these novel delivery models, one key lesson is the need to start early on planning how services will be sustained after the grant ends.

Implications for Health Policy: For research funders (e.g., federal agencies), it is clearly important to speed up the process of obtaining coverage for each novel delivery model, including the development of new billable service codes, and to plan for this as early as possible. Funders also need to collaborate with providers early in the grant period on sustainability planning for the post-grant environment. For payers, a key lesson is the need to fold novel models into stable existing funding streams such as Medicaid and commercial insurance coverage, rather than leaving them at the mercy of revolving time-limited grants, and to provide pathways for contracting for innovations under new payment models.

Implications for Further Research: For researchers, a key recommendation would be to pay greater attention to the payment environment when designing new delivery models and interventions.