In New Jersey, groundbreaking legislation is enabling communities to test the viability of accountable care organizations (ACOs) to improve care and curb spending for Medicaid beneficiaries, particularly those with chronic needs. Through the three-year Medicaid Accountable Care Organization Demonstration Project, the state is supporting community-based efforts to coordinate care across health settings, including hospitals, provider’s offices, clinics, and home care.
Our previous research identified substantial cost saving opportunities from reducing high hospital use. Such avoidable and frequent hospitalizations may arise from barriers to ambulatory care, inadequate care coordination and presence of behavioral health conditions.
More than 20% of American adults suffer from behavioral health problems. Without treatment, the consequences of behavioral health disorders for the individual and for sociery are staggering including unnecessary suffering, disability, unemployment, homelessness, inappropriate incarceration, and suicide. In the US, the economic cost of untreated behavioral health problems is more than 100 billion dollars each year.
In the Spring Issue (Issue 1) we discussed the importance of behavioral health integration into primary care. This issue will focus on technology, in the form of web-based programs (e.g., computerized cognitive behavioral therapy programs), and its use as a tool to facilitate the integration of behavioral health care into primary care settings.
St. Francis Medical Center Grand Rounds Behavioral Health Integration in Primary Care Part One: Evaluation and Management of Insomnia and Mental Health and Addiction.
