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Expanding Access to Mental Health Care

Improving Tele-Mental Health Care for Medicaid Enrollees

This NEHI white paper details the research needed to enhance the beneficial impact of tele-mental health for Medicaid enrollees.

Posted On July 27th, 2022

Download the report

Download the report

 

The use of tele-mental health has grown rapidly, especially in connection with the pandemic’s impact. Our understanding of the circumstances in which tele-mental health is most effective has not, however, been able to keep pace with the growth in utilization by a wider range of patients and providers. This project, funded by the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI), was designed to obtain multi-stakeholder perspectives on the research needed to enhance the beneficial impact of tele-mental health for Medicaid enrollees.

The focus of our project was on tele-mental health for Medicaid enrollees because Medicaid is the largest payer for mental health and substance use disorder services. Moreover, the population covered by Medicaid includes a large portion of people of color, people with disabilities, and people living in poverty who have experienced long-standing health disparities and disproportionate negative mental health challenges related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

This work featured a series of focus groups and a day-long conference involving patients (Medicaid enrollees with a lived experience of mental health or substance use disorder), providers (clinicians), and payers (Medicaid state officials and representatives of Medicaid managed care health plans). Participants exchanged perspectives on tele-mental health and reviewed our summary of existing research through the lens of their own experiences, and generated consensus-based recommendations for future patient-centered outcomes research (PCOR) and comparative-effectiveness research (CER) on tele-mental health.

View the recording of our webinar discussing this research with project participants.

 

Co-Author

Wendy Warring, J.D.

Wendy Warring, J.D.

President and CEO, NEHI

 

Project Sponsors

Additional Contributors

Lauren Bedel, MPH, Senior Health Policy & Program Associate, NEHI

Sara Mar, MPH, Health Policy Intern, NEHI

Dusan Stojicic, MA, Associate Director, Community Catalyst

Robert Seifert, MPA, Public Policy Consultant

Vasudha Gidugu, Ph.D.

Vasudha Gidugu, Ph.D.

(Former) Health Policy and Research Program Director, NEHI

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