Latest / The Mental Health Evolution / Ep 20: Inside Behavioral Health Systems with Cathy Gilbert
Transcript
- 0:00(Transcribed by TurboScribe. Go Unlimited to remove this message.) This podcast is part of the Frederick Podcast Network.
- 0:03Learn more at ListenFrederick.com.
- 0:05Welcome to Mental Health Evolution, a podcast about what's changing in mental
- 0:10health and why it matters.
- 0:12I'm your host, Rachel Harrison, inviting you into honest conversations with
- 0:16people from all perspectives in the field, clinicians, tech founders,
- 0:20investors, insurance companies, and all the folks in between.
- 0:24Let's explore what's working, what's not, and what's next.
- 0:30Welcome back, everyone, to the Mental Health Evolution podcast, where we are
- 0:35talking today about mental health care systems.
- 0:38We want to dig in to look at things like what are
- 0:42themes in payer relations, contract negotiation, and network provider
- 0:48relations.
- 0:49Our guest today, Kathy Gilbert, currently works as a consultant to providers,
- 0:53but she has a history of working with big insurance groups, working
- 0:57with provider network development and operations.
- 1:01Kathy has supported behavioral health provider organizations in areas like
- 1:05payer relations, contract negotiation, compliance review, and program
- 1:10consultation.
- 1:11She has also been on this podcast before.
- 1:15She had so much to say that we invited her back for
- 1:18a new topic.
- 1:19So welcome back, Kathy.
- 1:21Wow.
- 1:22Nice to be back.
- 1:23Yeah.
- 1:23So I want to get us started with looking at a couple
- 1:26of things that seem to be happening with insurance payers in particular.
- 1:31So we're going to give our listeners a little picture of some
- 1:34of what's happening in the news, and then we'll dive into some
- 1:36conversation.
- 1:38The first is the concept of value-based care.
- 1:41And while this has been slower to roll out in behavioral health,
- 1:46it is here and it is rolling out.
- 1:49And there are both pros and cons to this, noted in the
- 1:52EverNorth study, which was a look at the progress toward value-based
- 1:56care in mental health.
- 1:58And this article talks about how technology and systems seem to be
- 2:03a heavy lift for a lot of mental health practitioners, but it
- 2:07also talks about better outcomes for patients.
- 2:11So that's one idea that I want to kind of dig into
- 2:14a little bit more.
- 2:15The other is the idea of insurance companies creating their own care
- 2:20clinics, such as creating a mental health treatment center or a medical
- 2:23facility.
- 2:25There was an article about medical facilities that are run by insurance
- 2:29companies from Times Union titled, Congressman Pat Ryan Releases Optum Health
- 2:34Survey Results.
- 2:35And it really reveals the declining care, increase in prices and poor
- 2:41quality offered based on survey ratings of the Optum clinics that have
- 2:46opened to provide direct medical care.
- 2:49And then there are these other models, too.
- 2:51There's CVS clinics, there's Humana clinics opening in Walmart and various
- 2:56models for treatment in places that are not typically medical health practices.
- 3:02So I want to make sure that we can dig into that.
- 3:05But with a little bit of background, let me get some of
- 3:09your perspective, Kathy.
- 3:12How would you describe the state of value-based care implementation
- 3:16specifically in behavioral health?
- 3:20It's really slow.
- 3:22I've been talking about it, let's see, probably close to 20 years
- 3:27and how to implement it.
- 3:28OK, so it's very slow and there are some challenges in value
- 3:34-based care.
- 3:35First is, how do you measure mental health care improvement and mental
- 3:39health?
- 3:40Now, I would say now there are two measures, the PHQ-9
- 3:44and the GAD-7, which means your depression and anxiety that have
- 3:49almost become table stakes at health plans that they want clinicians to
- 3:55be doing those measures.
- 3:57They want to see improvement.
- 3:59But the only data they have, and I think we used to
- 4:03be able to have a little more data, it changed and I
- 4:07think it was a good change where they discontinued authorization requirements
- 4:12for outpatient behavioral health services.
- 4:14It's something that you can access under parity very easily.
- 4:17I think that's very important.
- 4:19But the change that made from the plan side and being able
- 4:23to measure outcomes is when the only data that plans really have
- 4:28is what comes in on a claim, on somebody's outpatient care.
- 4:33So they get data when somebody goes inpatient because they're doing a
- 4:36clinical review or a higher level of care.
- 4:39So the data that health plans really have ends up becoming flat
- 4:44on what's happening in an outpatient practice.
- 4:47So that I think that in some ways slowed down a move
- 4:50towards value-based programs because you just had less data to be
- 4:56able to build that and how a practice was performing.
- 5:00So that being said, I have seen several plans implement kind of
- 5:07a report that they give to providers based on the data they
- 5:10have available.
- 5:11Some of it that outpatient providers wouldn't have, like hospital admits and
- 5:16our higher levels of care, history of care, you know, plans still
- 5:21have that information.
- 5:22An individual provider may not.
- 5:25So that's one piece.
- 5:28And then the other thing is a lot of it from claims
- 5:30data.
- 5:31But knowing that kind of they've started to implement some programs, they're
- 5:36very early stage value-based.
- 5:39They're kind of like they set a report card and have metrics.
- 5:43And if you meet certain metrics, there's an opportunity to participate in
- 5:46a bonus pool for those providers.
- 5:49The other thing they've done is some incentives for things like access
- 5:55to appointments, early appointment availability, and to have, you know, they
- 5:59incentivize some of those things.
- 6:02There have been more value-based things at the higher levels of
- 6:04care and behavioral health because they have more information.
- 6:07It's a little easier to measure.
- 6:09They can do those things.
- 6:11So I think that's part of it.
- 6:12The other piece in behavioral health that makes value-based a little
- 6:17bit challenging because part of value-based care is having enough data
- 6:20from any one plan and enough members to really be able to
- 6:24have any concrete outcomes and figure out what's going on.
- 6:30So, as you know, in behavioral health, unlike the medical world, the
- 6:35behavioral health side, there are still many, many more single shingle, small
- 6:41group practices in behavioral health than there are in the medical world.
- 6:46And they move around more because you don't need a lot of
- 6:50equipment to provide a behavioral health service.
- 6:53So it's easier to set your practice up or move it.
- 6:58So just in general, and then if you have a small group
- 7:01practice, you only have capacity for, you know, maybe say 40, you
- 7:06can see 40 patients a week in behavioral health if you're a
- 7:09therapist.
- 7:10And even that's pushing it because it's very intense for a therapist
- 7:14as well.
- 7:15That's, that's tough.
- 7:18So, you think about all of that, even having the volume of
- 7:22data in behavioral health for outpatient, especially, is very challenging.
- 7:28So what needs to happen, and this is what, and I think
- 7:32technology is going to get us there, is all behavioral health care
- 7:38being measurement-based care, which is focused on the outcomes.
- 7:41You know where the member is.
- 7:42You're getting that feedback loop.
- 7:44And there are, you know, there are platforms and EHRs that are
- 7:51designed for those individual and small group practices, actually specifically
- 7:55designed for behavioral health measurements.
- 7:58So, and they can help with those outcomes and help a practice
- 8:03kind of know where they stand.
- 8:05So that's, that's all part of the picture to get there.
- 8:09So I think it's starting.
- 8:11And there's more measurement, especially with the tools that are now available.
- 8:17And those can be available electronically and with electronic health records.
- 8:21I think it's coming, but it can also, there's a cost factor
- 8:26to implementing that in a small practice.
- 8:29So, so kind of figuring out all of those pieces.
- 8:32But it's coming slowly, but it's, I mean, I would call it,
- 8:36it's, you know, it's young, it's very young and we're finally getting
- 8:43the tools to be able to do it.
- 8:44I've seen a couple not implemented on a national basis with a
- 8:48national plan, but in certain markets for national payers that are more
- 8:51market-specific, smaller programs.
- 8:54And so I've seen some of those slowly be implemented.
- 8:58One has, like I said, they have a couple of them have
- 9:01programs where they incentivize different things that are outcomes-based,
- 9:05access, equipment availability, even things that are measured are, you know, if
- 9:10you're seeing somebody outpatient, how many of your patients were admitted to
- 9:13a higher level of care, you know, and I think, and tell
- 9:17a provider that, you know, provider may not be able to help.
- 9:21So, or ER visits, those kinds of things that, you know, if
- 9:25a mental health provider knows about it, can help somebody troubleshoot things
- 9:30and maybe prevent some of those admissions and visits.
- 9:34Yeah.
- 9:35So, but it's, it's challenging.
- 9:39It is.
- 9:39I think this, this piece too, you've mentioned like increasing, like access
- 9:44to care is one of the things that practices would be rated
- 9:48on.
- 9:48And I think that's particularly difficult in mental health, though it's needed.
- 9:53You mentioned the limitation, right?
- 9:56Of seeing maybe 40 clients a week, but that's high for a
- 10:00lot of what people are doing.
- 10:01And so it's not like a doctor's office where you see someone
- 10:05once every six months, if you're seeing somebody daily, you're full when
- 10:10you're full, you know?
- 10:12So I'm, I'm curious how, or if you've had any chance to
- 10:16dive into how outpatient can make accessibility better.
- 10:22You know, there's a variety of ways.
- 10:25One is having a way for plans to, or the online scheduling
- 10:31so people can see your appointment availability, because honestly, most
- 10:36providers, I mean, they actually have midday availability where they're,
- 10:42they're booked early morning and evening appointments, or if they happen to
- 10:46offer weekends, those are, those are always full.
- 10:51So it's, you know, figuring out how to, you know, how people
- 10:54realize, you know, take those midday appointments.
- 10:57The other piece is, and that online scheduling also addresses another piece
- 11:03in a small practice.
- 11:04You may not have a receptionist to answer the phone.
- 11:07So when you're in session, you can't pick up the phone if
- 11:10somebody's calling.
- 11:11Right.
- 11:12So, so some of those technology pieces can really help a small
- 11:19practice.
- 11:20One, save those phone calls because that's when you may not get
- 11:24a patient or, you know, or somebody who really, one of your
- 11:28current patients who really needs to reach you in an emergency can't
- 11:32get through because you're in session and you should be focused on
- 11:35your session.
- 11:36Right.
- 11:36With that individual and, you know, reimbursement rates don't always allow for
- 11:42providers to have somebody to answer their phone all the time.
- 11:46Yeah.
- 11:46Yeah.
- 11:46In a small practice, just realistically.
- 11:50So it's thinking about some of those things that probably technology can
- 11:54help and cost-effectively help.
- 11:56Some of those integrated practice management systems have the online scheduling
- 12:00built in.
- 12:02Yeah.
- 12:03Yeah.
- 12:03So that they'll help you with that.
- 12:05So looking for those kinds of things that makes it available.
- 12:10And then health plans are starting to connect to people's online availability
- 12:15in their provider directory.
- 12:17So if you have it and they can connect it into your
- 12:19profile in their directory.
- 12:22Oh.
- 12:23That, all of those little pieces.
- 12:26And then if, you know, so I'm thinking, you know, as you
- 12:28think about the technology and then when we talk about outcomes, some
- 12:32of those systems can even push out a PHQ-9 or a
- 12:36GAD-7 pre-session so that you can get that feedback.
- 12:41I will say that most of the digital providers that I work
- 12:44with in our virtual care, that is part of their app or
- 12:49their program is that they push out those, the appropriate assessment tools
- 12:53to the member and then do post-session surveys and they push
- 12:59that, those out to the member and it's kind of part of
- 13:02their program and that's how they're able to demonstrate their outcomes, which
- 13:06is leading some of those digital programs to get to value-based
- 13:10care because they have it built in to their reporting.
- 13:15Yeah.
- 13:16Yeah.
- 13:16That makes a lot of sense.
- 13:19That's great.
- 13:20Food for thought.
- 13:21Yeah.
- 13:21So if we dive into some of these other trends that we're
- 13:25seeing to insurers opening their own behavioral health clinics, and I
- 13:29understand there's kind of been a shift in this over the last
- 13:32few years and that that's kind of shifted.
- 13:34Some people are shifting away from it, but you still have Humana
- 13:38with Walmart and some things like that.
- 13:40I would love to hear some of your thoughts about that trend
- 13:44and about what you're seeing happening and how that's impacting care for
- 13:48people in general, the public, and how that's impacting providers.
- 13:53One of the things I mentioned is Access and the idea behind
- 13:59those programs like Humana and Walmart and others, Carillon's done some of
- 14:04those things as well, is it gets the services to where people
- 14:09are.
- 14:11So it helps people get to care, find care easier.
- 14:18I'm thinking even for an example, nowadays, I mean, you get all
- 14:22of your vaccines, you get them at CDS.
- 14:25I mean, you don't get them from your doctor's office.
- 14:29That's a convenience.
- 14:30I mean, I would even ask, I'd even ask my doctor about
- 14:33something.
- 14:33It doesn't happen in pediatrics typically, but for adults, that it takes
- 14:40away the challenge that practices may have, especially if it's in a
- 14:44practice where they do a limited number of vaccines other than maybe
- 14:47the flu vaccine in their practice and a primary care practice of
- 14:52storage of those vaccines and monitoring all of that, and it also
- 14:57makes it easy access when I need, you know, I go to
- 15:01CDS to pick up a prescription, I go stop to pick up
- 15:03something else, you can get your vaccine, right, if it's something that's
- 15:07due.
- 15:07And I think that also came as a part of COVID too,
- 15:10when they were trying to get everything out, but then they realized,
- 15:13oh, this kind of makes sense.
- 15:15And that way, I think it's a positive because it brings the,
- 15:18it brings access to medical care, and if you think about it,
- 15:22into rural areas, because there's a Walmart in almost every small town.
- 15:26Yeah, that's true.
- 15:27There's a CDS or a pharmacy.
- 15:30So it brings care to areas where maybe care was hard to
- 15:34access.
- 15:35So for some pieces, I think I see that, I see the
- 15:38point and I see why plans do it.
- 15:40But what I say it doesn't do, it doesn't give you a
- 15:44net new providers.
- 15:45It doesn't help that there are not enough behavioral health providers in
- 15:50the country for the demand.
- 15:53We know there are, you know, in large metropolitan areas, you can
- 15:57access care for the most part, you can find someone available, but
- 16:02as you get into rural areas, it's not there, there's not enough
- 16:05people providing the care.
- 16:09So in that sense, I think it's good to bring it to
- 16:13the people, but it doesn't really bring net new providers.
- 16:16So I think that's something we need to focus on in this
- 16:18country is, you know, how do we attract people to healthcare professions,
- 16:23to behavioral health?
- 16:24I mean, you know, I know even when I went into social
- 16:26work eons ago, people were like, are you sure you want to
- 16:30do that?
- 16:30You're not going to make any money.
- 16:31And I'm like, well, that wasn't the point.
- 16:34Yeah, that's not really the point, right?
- 16:37So, right.
- 16:38So as for quality, I think that goes back a lot of
- 16:43like I read through the article with Congressman Pat Ryan, a lot
- 16:47of it is impacted by provider shortage and then a shortage also
- 16:54of people to simply answer phones.
- 16:56There are not enough, probably when in his article with the one
- 17:00Optum took over, it probably increased the volume to that clinic because
- 17:04then anybody who had Optum United coverage, they would want to send
- 17:08to their clinic.
- 17:09It increased volume.
- 17:11And then do you have enough people to answer the phones?
- 17:14Because it's not just the healthcare professionals, it's all the support staff.
- 17:17So when you look at that whole picture and not that that
- 17:22was a good thing, I mean, we've got to address it, but
- 17:25those programs don't create more providers and get, they may attract somebody
- 17:33who was in private practice and was looking for something to just
- 17:37be more steady and have set schedule and hours.
- 17:41But that still doesn't get, but you lose that private practice.
- 17:44So it's not in that new providers.
- 17:46Yeah.
- 17:47So I think that, I think it's a vicious circle.
- 17:51There's, there's pros and cons to it and they're not addressing all
- 17:54the issues.
- 17:56Yeah, that's an interesting thought when you talk about that circle, because
- 17:59I think there are so many more people coming into the field,
- 18:04there are tech companies, there are MSOs, there are all these people,
- 18:09the insurance-based clinics, and it is the same providers maybe cycling
- 18:15through those at the end of the day, right?
- 18:17So we're not really, we're not building a network of providers.
- 18:23Right.
- 18:23Well, you should think about it as the baby boomers, and I'm
- 18:26that last tail of that baby boom generation.
- 18:29As providers retire, we have the next generation's more willing to access
- 18:36behavioral health care.
- 18:37Fewer of them going into behavioral health care.
- 18:40You have boomers, we're still around and we probably still need behavioral
- 18:44health care and there, there's more, there's more behavioral health providers
- 18:50retiring every year than are coming out of schools.
- 18:53And that's especially true with psychiatry, which is another huge problem.
- 18:57Oh, wow.
- 18:58It's not even just therapy, it's psychiatry.
- 19:02And, and people coming out of medical school aren't choosing psychiatry.
- 19:07It's not as sexy as, say, cardiology or cancer treatment.
- 19:14Those are very challenging, or surgery, neurology, all those are very
- 19:17fascinating, much needed fields as well.
- 19:20Yeah.
- 19:21But we still need, you know, maybe if there were a few
- 19:25more psychiatrists and now health professionals treating people, we would catch
- 19:28things sooner.
- 19:28People would be more aware and we'd have less of these other
- 19:31issues because they'd be more compliant with other, other areas of their
- 19:35lives, like diabetes and diabetes management and it helps people work through
- 19:40those types of things.
- 19:41So there's all of those pieces.
- 19:42It's all one system and you need all of those.
- 19:47Yeah, you do.
- 19:47So, so, you know, yes, it's terrible what Congressman Ryan found, but
- 19:55you have to look at multiple underlying issues within our society and
- 19:59our structure.
- 20:00I love that perspective and seeing the bigger picture because, yeah, I
- 20:04think everywhere I see that even a change.
- 20:08And when I'm accessing any kind of medical care, there are clearly
- 20:12shortages and longer waits and all of that.
- 20:15Mm-hmm.
- 20:15Mm-hmm.
- 20:16Right.
- 20:17Well, and that was one of the reasons when I did my
- 20:20thesis, national healthcare, three years ago, is the biggest challenge to
- 20:26national healthcare in the U.S. is our culture.
- 20:29We want the best care.
- 20:31We want it now and we want it cheap.
- 20:35I mean, bottom line.
- 20:37Yeah.
- 20:38Yeah.
- 20:40I mean, that is what we want.
- 20:42If you look at other countries that have national healthcare, for the
- 20:48most part, people are okay to wait.
- 20:51They understand the wait and the prioritization and, you know, elective versus
- 20:56must have now.
- 20:58And so there is that, but it, to me, it, it does
- 21:03a lot of times come back to our culture, you know, it's
- 21:08the Walmart, Amazon idea.
- 21:11Yeah.
- 21:12We want the lowest cost, but the best.
- 21:14Well, the lowest, but the best.
- 21:16And we want it right now.
- 21:17You know, if I can get it delivered in an hour, I'm
- 21:19great.
- 21:20Yeah.
- 21:21We are pretty spoiled in that way in a lot of areas.
- 21:24We, we almost quickly, all of that.
- 21:26Yeah.
- 21:27Yeah.
- 21:28So when you think about that whole concept, it's like, okay, so
- 21:32how can, what, what do we have to change?
- 21:36It's not just the healthcare system, which I totally agree means change,
- 21:41but we have to think about it in terms of what people
- 21:44will accept.
- 21:45Right.
- 21:46Right.
- 21:47And so what do you advise to people that are looking for
- 21:51care to overcome some of these barriers?
- 21:55One is look for the virtual care options because that does stretch
- 22:00capacity.
- 22:03And, and so you can do that.
- 22:05And they also have things that I think there are a lot
- 22:09of things that are going to become more self-serve.
- 22:12And then as more complex things will be escalated to individuals.
- 22:18So I think that's, you know, all, so, you know, kind of
- 22:23playing a little bit with the virtual care where, where you can
- 22:27to, to check that out because it's, but always, you know, you
- 22:33look for, do your research on the providers.
- 22:36So you find one that kind of matches because it's also hard
- 22:42when you do, you know, doctor shopping and you take an appointment
- 22:46and decide you don't like that and want to go to somebody
- 22:48else.
- 22:48So I think do your due diligence ahead of time.
- 22:50It's easier to do that nowadays to find a match for what
- 22:55you need.
- 22:56And that can be, you know, your primary care doc can help
- 22:59you with that.
- 23:00You know, anybody, you know, in the community use, for kids, talk
- 23:05to the school's counselors, then they'll know who in the community might
- 23:09be a good fit.
- 23:10But, you know, look at what you have available and health plans
- 23:14are trying to make things available.
- 23:16You really are.
- 23:17And so, you know, kind of see what they have.
- 23:21If you have a health plan, not everybody does and not everybody
- 23:25wills in the near future, but yeah, they'll have, you know, preferred
- 23:29providers or providers that really are meeting some of those outcomes and
- 23:34quality measures that you're looking for.
- 23:36You can find those in your health plan.
- 23:38They have preferred networks, they have digital providers that they've
- 23:41contracted with and think are a good value and are getting meeting
- 23:46patients' needs and, you know, I think sometimes it's knowing that you
- 23:52don't always need that specialist because a lot of times the wait
- 23:54is for that specialist.
- 23:56So somebody will think in behavioral health, it may be, you'll probably
- 24:00be able to get an appointment with a therapist, but you may
- 24:02not be able to get a psychiatrist, well, starting with the therapist
- 24:05may be okay.
- 24:08And for the most part, people can get into their primary care
- 24:11doc.
- 24:12So start with primary care.
- 24:15You don't necessarily always need the specialist because that's where the long
- 24:19waits are.
- 24:21And if you're working with your primary care or with a therapist
- 24:26and you do need that specialist, they may have the connection to
- 24:31get you in quicker with somebody because they have a preferred providers
- 24:36that they work with and they can make that referral and help
- 24:40you get into that care.
- 24:42So it's, you know, really looking at the system and using the
- 24:46tools that are out there, like, yeah, so yeah, there will still
- 24:54be challenges.
- 24:55That's not going to change.
- 24:56There will still be challenges, but, you know, try to use the
- 25:00tools that are available for someone who is trying to access care.
- 25:03Yeah, that's awesome.
- 25:05Well, Kathy, thank you again for giving us some very concrete things
- 25:10to think about and to do with this whole, all the systems
- 25:14changes and things that we see happening in the mental health industry.
- 25:19I appreciate you being here.
- 25:20No, no, thank you.
- 25:22I enjoyed it and you know, if there's ever any questions, feel
- 25:26free to reach out.
- 25:27I appreciate that.
- 25:28Thanks everybody for being here.
- 25:30Join us next time to take a look at all the changes
- 25:34in landscape and different perspectives in the mental health industry.
- 25:38Bye for now.
- 25:41Thanks for listening to the Mental Health Evolution podcast.
- 25:45Join the conversation, find us on social, send us your thoughts and
- 25:49tell us what you're seeing in your corner of the mental health
- 25:52world.
- 25:52Until next time, stay curious and keep evolving.
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