The Evolving Mental Health Landscape
Everything has changed. And absolutely nothing has changed.
Mental Health has been in the healthcare spotlight for a number of years now. It’s at the forefront of concerns for employers and their benefit decision makers, while also being a huge focus for employees. Problems with care access, quality, and cost remain significant. But there have been important shifts in these areas, as well as with who is delivering care. Some changes are welcome: the movement toward measurement-based care, the focus on outcomes rather than utilization, and the increased prevalence of virtual care. Other changes have created new problems as readily as they solve for the old ones.
We’ve seen many of our employer partners move away from traditional EAPs towards “Enhanced EAPs” that offer a broader suite of Mental Health services. As those companies have grown, they’ve struggled to scale their offerings. There are a finite number of quality therapists, and those therapists have high expectations for reimbursement rates. This makes it challenging to hire and retain high-quality therapists in a cost-effective manner.
Some companies have simply lowered their hiring standards or partnered with heavily marketed but subpar, unvetted solutions which, unfortunately, often results in horror stories from patients. Others have moved to coaching-first services where the first provider a patient encounters is an unlicensed coach who uses a one-size-fits-all curriculum with everyone. Patients would only see licensed providers if they meet certain severity criteria. Some have even looked to self-study materials or AI bots to better scale their service, which is simply not what the average patient wants or needs. We’ve had a significant number of complaints from Crossover members who began their mental health journey with services like these and eventually found their way to us after much dissatisfaction.
For all that’s changed in the Mental Health landscape, most of the ingredients that have led to high-quality care remain the same: well trained therapists who can accurately assess the problems their patients are experiencing, develop trust and alliance with those patients, and work with them to apply evidence-based skills that help them reach their goals. These ingredients are, and will always be, the foundation of Crossover’s Mental Health Program.
Beyond that, there are many reasons to include Crossover’s Mental Health services as part of your benefits.
Efficient with Great Outcomes
We recently examined Crossover’s Mental Health Program in comparison with our available client claims data and a community sample. Our research found that Crossover members:
- Had 5.1 fewer visits than members seen through other client benefits
- Associated $469 per member cost savings
- Had 1.5 fewer visits than those in the community sample
- Associated $102 per member cost savings
- And 61% experienced clinically significant improvement in symptoms
Member Centered
The efficiency and outcomes were not achieved at the expense of member experience. On the contrary, Crossover’s Mental Health Program has achieved a Net Promoter Score of 87.1 and a Patient Satisfaction Score of 94.6. Therapeutic Alliance, which is regularly assessed as part of our Measurement-Based Care, averages 13.8/15. We achieve these high scores in part by taking a member-centered approach. Treatment plans are always a collaborative process and are customized for each member. Also, because our providers are focused on specific populations, they become quite knowledgeable about company cultures and are able to use that knowledge to better understand and help members achieve their goals.
Licensed Mental Health Providers
Our providers are all licensed Mental Health providers and employees of Crossover Health. This helps ensure they meet our care standards, as well as the standards of our members. While Behavioral Health Coaches, and even AI, have their places in treatment plans, we believe strongly that licensed Mental Health providers should be the starting point for anyone seeking care.
Convenient and Accessible
Whether through an onsite or nearsite health center, or our national virtual team, we offer prompt in-person and virtual appointments. We want the process to be simple, without long waits for needed care. So many of our members are incredibly busy, and they need a highly flexible service in order to take advantage of the benefit. We build our service to meet this need.
Integrated Care
Crossover’s offering is built around the idea that integrated care is the best kind of care. It simplifies a complicated system and allows for a whole-person approach to care. The mind and body are connected. When one is struggling, it increases the risk that the other will struggle. Our Mental Health providers work closely with our Primary Care providers, Physical Therapists, and Health Coaches to ensure all aspects of a member’s health are being considered and addressed. This is not something that’s offered by any singular Mental Health point solution.
Crossover Health’s model demonstrates that targeted, efficient Mental Health interventions from licensed Mental Health professionals can reduce costs while maintaining positive clinical outcomes and member experiences.