In 2022, payers expanded their mental health networks and focused on wellness and whole-person care.
Here is what five payer CEOs said about mental health this year:
- Andrew Dreyfus, outgoing president and CEO of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts, said "health equity and mental health are finally taking a central place in healthcare."
"I am incredibly proud of so many things our company has accomplished. Our involvement in and commitment to universal coverage, our leadership on payment reform, mental health, palliative care and health equity, to name a few," Mr. Dreyfus told Becker's in November. - David Cordani, Cigna's CEO, said employers now have employee well-being and mental health "front and center."
Mr. Cordani told Fortune's "Leadership Next" podcast in November employers are stepping up for employees' mental health and adding more cohesive wellness options.
"Employers are stepping back, in a strategic redesign of their benefit programs, which we think is very constructive," Mr. Cordani said. "Because in many cases, the individual is left as the general contractor having to pull these solutions together." - Don Antonucci, CEO of Providence Health Plan, told Becker's in October mental healthcare is one of five trends insurance executives should be aware of.
"With virtual care, we saw that significant rise during the pandemic, so there's a place for virtual care that adds to access and quality. With behavioral health and mental health, we've seen the pandemic exacerbate the need for those services and we know there's not enough providers out there today," Mr. Antonucci said. - Karen Lynch, CEO and president of CVS Health, wrote in a column for CNN that it's time to change the conversation around mental health. Ms Lynch said business leaders have a role to play by supporting employees and recognizing mental health as an everyday health issue.
"Mental health has been the collateral damage of the pandemic, but the uncertainty and social isolation of this time has at least raised awareness and increased our willingness to openly discuss things like depression, loneliness and burnout," Ms. Lynch said in her column. - Hilary Marden-Resnik, CEO of UCare, told Becker's in September her organization is working to add more mental health providers, especially in urban and rural areas.
"For many of our members, virtual mental health services during the pandemic were and are a lifeline, but healthcare providers are struggling to retain their staff among all specialties. One in 4 mental health positions are vacant right now, and that would have been problematic even if the demand hadn't increased," Ms. Marden-Resnik said.
"Frankly, with this kind of vacancy rate, even the telemedicine option isn't available to everyone. We're proud at UCare to have a really robust mental health and substance use provider network that specializes in helping our members access services," she added.