05 Apr Strategies to Help Behavioral Health Providers Succeed with Value-Based Care

If you want your organization to thrive in the behavioral healthcare market, you must start thinking about value-based care now. As the focus shifts away from traditional fee-for-service (FFS) systems that pay for the amount of treatment, value-based payments (VBP) are becoming increasingly important to payers. The new VBP methods link reimbursements with improved performance and outcomes. These payment models hold providers accountable for the cost and quality of their services. The goal is to reduce ineffective care and reward high-performing providers.

As these payment models shift toward value-based payments, behavioral healthcare executives and providers should ask themselves these five questions.

1. 1. Does our organization provide care that meets patient needs in a cost-effective manner?
   2. Is the care being tracked in an EHR?
   3. Does our model document improvement in client functionality?
   4. Does our billing system provide proof that we are offering cost-effective services?
   5. Are we prepared to integrate with primary care?

Strategies for Providers

Behavioral Health Business recently looked at universal strategies behavioral health providers can use to set themselves up for success in value-based care models. Stakeholders say it comes down to data, partnerships and practice. While it is imperative that agreements are mutually beneficial for providers and payers, the most important thing to focus on with value-based care and value-based payments is to be aligned around the right set of outcomes, and use the data and the evidence to do that. 

Using an EHR to Support Value-Based Care

Value-based care for behavioral health is something that has been studied in-depth for a long time, due in part to the increasingly high costs associated with mental health and substance use disorder (SUD) treatment. Rewarding providers based on successful client outcomes is a model that benefits everyone. Providers must track clinical and financial performance to determine whether they’re saving money and improving outcomes. But beyond running basic reports, that data must be functional, especially if providers want to maximize their reimbursements. Using a robust, behavioral health-specific EHR for documentation and clinical support has allowed behavioral health professionals to shift more easily towards value-based care. When value-based care and value-based payment models are combined with powerful EHR technology, mental health and SUD practitioners are thoroughly empowered to focus on outcome-based care.

Learn More

Integrating value-based payments into behavioral healthcare systems provides opportunities for improved access to quality services. Behavioral healthcare organizations must prepare for sweeping changes in payment systems. To learn more about how you can set up your organization for success as payment models shift, download this FREE guide, Value-Based Payments in Behavioral Healthcare now.