This pressing concern was underscored during Becker’s Fall 2024 Payer Issues Roundtable. Todd Hill, Senior Vice President of Payer Strategy, and Dan Harrah, Vice President of Clinical Partnerships at Spring Health, shed light on the longstanding hurdles in providing effective behavioral health services and how technology could be key in achieving positive outcomes.
Four key takeaways were:
1. Smart investment in Behavioral Health results in total cost of care reduction.
Behavioral healthcare is at a pivotal moment, with rising costs and increasing demand positioning it as a bipartisan priority. Historically, affordability and access were viewed as opposing goals, but they are deeply interconnected. Smart investments in behavioral health—connecting members quickly to high-quality care, leveraging measurement-based care, and utilizing precision mental health—enable members to get measurably better faster, driving cost savings through reduced overall medical spend.
Spring Health is the only comprehensive mental health solution to achieve certified savings by the Validation Institute, delivering $2.20 PMPM in savings for every dollar invested. The study found that Spring Health drives significant healthcare savings, with 54% of the reductions coming from decreased physical healthcare spend—particularly among individuals with costly, chronic medical conditions.
2. Employers have struggled to secure the behavioral health services their employees need.
During the pandemic, the demand for behavioral health services among employees and their families surged. However, significant delays in accessing providers and concerns about the quality of care were prevalent. Spring Health addressed these issues by facilitating quicker appointment bookings, enhancing access and improving the experience for employees and members.
“Employers are seeking radical access,” Mr. Hill stated. “They want providers available within a couple of days, not months.”
3. Machine learning leverages behavioral health data to provide the best care possible
Spring Health delivers access to care in less than 1.5 days, achieving a 69% improvement in symptoms—50% better than traditional gold-standard care. By swiftly providing the appropriate treatment, Spring Health not only enhances outcomes but also reduces costs.
“At Spring Health, we’ve served millions of patients,” Mr. Harrah noted. “By gathering data on their symptoms, treatment plans, and outcomes, we can more accurately match individuals with the right providers and solutions. We ensure patients receive the appropriate level and type of care promptly.”
4. Technology helps Spring Health revolutionize its network management strategy.
All providers at Spring Health synchronize their calendars with the Spring Health platform. This allows organizations to monitor the total number of providers accepting patients and the available appointment slots at any time. Spring Health then utilizes an algorithm to identify geographic areas in need of specific provider types and services, ensuring they meet the needs of their 15 million patients.
