Improving Behavioral Health Care for Youth Through Collaborative Care Expansion

The country is in the midst of an ongoing and worsening youth mental health crisis. Nearly half of all U.S. teenagers report that they struggle with persistent feelings of sadness and hopelessness. Eleven percent of young adults ages 16 to 24 and 20 percent of all high school students report serious thoughts of suicide.

A new white paper from the Meadows Mental Health Policy Institute and The Commonwealth Fund finds a key solution to the youth mental health crisis–expanding mental health care access through the Collaborative Care Model (CoCM), which integrates mental health care into primary care and pediatric settings and has been shown to be effective in the early identification and treatment of mental health conditions such as depression.

“Improving Behavioral Health Care for Youth Through Collaborative Care Expansion,” finds that by advancing policy that ensures individuals enrolled in state Medicaid programs have coverage for CoCM, nearly 50% of youth who receive mental health care through Medicaid would be able to access low cost, quality mental health services through their primary care provider.

The research examines existing barriers to CoCM integration through an analysis of case studies in New York, North Carolina, Texas, and Washington. To encourage CoCM uptake across the country, the report calls on Congress, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, and state governments and Medicaid authorities to raise reimbursements rates, streamline Medicaid payment processes, and invest in health system transformation.

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