The National Business Group on Health said 56% of employers in 2018 plan to offer telehealth for behavioral health services as a covered benefit . That’s more than double the percentage of employers offering telehealth mental health services this year, NBGH says in its new annual health benefits survey.
The trend of large employers offering such access comes following a push in recent years by providers of such services, including American Well, MDLive, Quartet and Teladoc. These firms provide technology and related access to psychiatrists, psychologists and therapists via smart phone, tablet and computer as the nation grapples with a rising rate of suicides, opioid addiction and other mental health issues. Opioid abuse is of particular concern to employers with 80% of employers concerned about “inappropriate use and abuse,” NBGH analysis shows.
“While telehealth has shown a breakneck growth, more than doubling itself year over year for quite some time, behavioral telehealth has shown an even more astounding growth rate due to three simple reasons,” said Roy Schoenberg, CEO of American Well. “Access to behavioral services is even more challenging than access to medical care, the conversational nature of behavioral services makes video encounters perfect alternative to physical ones and the notion of privacy couldn’t be better addressed when you have the encounter in your own home.”
The push by these companies into telemedicine, or telehealth, comes as insurance companies and government health programs provide more reimbursement for online healthcare services including video consultations. Already, nearly all employers, or 96%, allow telehealth services for medical services and related treatments in states where it’s allowed, National Business Group on Health said.
An increasing number of insurance companies have in the last two years added the technology of Quartet Health to help primary care doctors to better coordinate mental health treatment with psychiatrists and other behavioral health providers. The idea behind the Quartet effort is to bring a value-based model to mental health treatment, which is highly fragmented and known for a notoriously slow referral process between medical doctors and behavioral health providers. Quartet links patients via telehealth technology from their primary care doctor’s office for video consultations as well as online behavioral health.
