Medicaid Azadi Health advancing mental health for BIPOC populations

About 43.8 million adults in the United States live with a mental illness—this equates to 1 in 5 adults. Shockingly, less than half (47%) of Medicaid beneficiaries received any treatment for behavioral health needs in 2015.

About 43.8 million adults in the United States live with a mental illness—this equates to 1 in 5 adults. Shockingly, less than half (47%) of Medicaid beneficiaries received any treatment for behavioral health needs in 2015.

In underserved communities, people with mental health issues often lack insurance coverage to address their behavioral health needs. Although health plans are required to provide mental health coverage due to the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equality Act (MHPAEA), health insurance companies do not offer these plans themselves.

However, Medicaid programs are the single largest payer for mental health services in the United States. The Medicaid program is responsible for many inpatient and outpatient mental health services in the United States.

According to the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF), “Most nonelderly adults with mental illness and serious mental illness have either Medicaid or private insurance, and Medicaid plays a particularly important role for those with low incomes.”

Examples of Medicaid mental offerings include:

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Psychiatric treatment

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Counseling

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Prescription medications

Designed to address the needs of large, BIPOC populations, Sanitas gives organizations a smart, measurable, impactful, and modern way to invest in the health and happiness of their people. We bring nearly two decades of direct clinical research on digital delivery of mental and behavioral health together with easy-to-use technology to improve access and outcomes for users.

Online Behavioral Health Solutions Can Provide Benefits for Underserved Populations

Online behavioral solutions have proven effective. In a Azadi Health study, the usage of internet-based cognitive behavioral therapy (iCBT) during the first month significantly impacts clinical outcomes.

Examples of Medicaid mental offerings include:

1. Early Identification Services for Underserved Populations

Early identification of people dealing with mental health issues among MUPs is challenging.

According to the APA, “While trends have shown that overall rates of mental health treatment have increased, gaps in access to mental health treatment between African-Americans, Latinos, and non-Latino whites continue to persist. For individuals diagnosed with depression, 69 percent of Asians, 64 percent of Latinos and 59 percent of African-Americans do not access mental health treatment, compared with 40 percent of non-Latino whites.”

Racial-ethnic minority groups—which largely make up medically underserved populations (MUPs)—are 20%–50% less likely to initiate mental health service use and 40%–80% more likely to drop out of treatment prematurely.

Factors that hinder early identification services for mental health include:

Fear of stigmatization of mental health
Uncertainty of what to expect from mental health treatment programs

Managed Medicaid programs that integrate online behavioral health solutions can help with the early identification of mental health issues in underserved regions.

2 . Support and Treatment Services for Underserved Populations

Since people in MUPs hardly seek mental healthcare, they may lack essential support and treatment services, even though these services exist.

According to a report by the SAMHSA, about 1 in 4 adults (23.6%) with any mental illness (AMI) in 2018 perceived an unmet need for mental healthcare. And among adults with a perceived unmet need and AMI, 44.4% did not receive any mental health services.

Managed Medicaid mental health programs that integrate online behavioral health solutions can increase the percentage of people receiving support and treatment services In MUPs.

3 . Scalable and Accessible Behavioral Care

Medicaid has contributed significantly to improving mental health in underserved populations. For example, in 2015, Medicaid covered 22% of nonelderly adults with mental illness and 26% of nonelderly adults with serious mental illness, according to KFF. In 2017, the US government expanded Medicaid in 32 states to grant access to adults up to 138% of the federal poverty level.

But what if we could increase the reach of Medicaid with accessible behavioral health solutions? With platforms like Azadi Health, Medicaid programs can scale the benefits of behavioral care and make them even more accessible to MUPs. Integrating access to Azadi Health’s online behavioral solutions can lead to better member management and utilization of Medicaid services.

4 . Bridge Mental and Physical Health Divide

Mental and physical healthcare are interrelated. Recent data by the Census Bureau show that nearly one-third of Americans are showing signs of clinical anxiety or depression in the pandemic. 68% of adults with mental disorders also have at least one other physical health issue. In fact, the NCBI suggests that “mental disorders of all kinds are associated with an increased risk of the onset of a wide range of chronic physical conditions.”

Patients who have comorbid mental and medical conditions are known to increase healthcare costs, length of stay in the hospital, and rates of hospital readmission compared with those who do not have comorbidity.

The field of medicine is increasingly making the connection between the mind and the body. Comorbid disorders that involve both should be treated simultaneously for better overall health outcomes.

Online behavioral health solutions can provide remote mental healthcare for patients with comorbidity and, hence, bridge the mental and physical health divide.

How Azadi Can help Medicaid Programs Leverage Online Behavioral Health Solutions

Medicaid behavioral health and Medicare behavioral health are relevant to bridge the mental and physical health divide in MUPs.

Integrating access to Azadi Health’s online behavioral solutions can lead to better member management and utilization of Medicaid services. Our platform also produces clinical and administrative actionable data that is patient and population-based to drive a better understanding of population health.

Azadi Health’s on-demand solutions can help Medicaid programs become more cost-efficient in delivering engagement, treatment, and personalized health and wellbeing services.

Learn more about using Azadi Health for your members.