Who will step up to change the trajectory of rising health care costs? We will.
Behavioral health includes mental health conditions like depression, anxiety, ADHD and schizophrenia, as well as substance use disorders.
These issues are a serious concern in North Carolina and the country. Consider these statistics:
One in five North Carolina adults has a mental health condition.2
Suicide is the second leading cause of death for young people aged 10-24 years in North Carolina—and rates are rising.3
More Americans are likely to die from accidental opioid overdoses than car accidents.4
Yet more than half of adults with behavioral health disorders don’t get the treatment they need.5 There are many reasons, including lack of accessible, affordable care; social, cultural and other disparities; and a lack of behavioral health specialists.
The good news: We’re recruiting more behavioral health specialists so that more members can get the affordable care they need, whether via in-person visits or telehealth. We’re also incorporating behavioral health care into primary care, which has shown to be effective in improving health and lowering costs. To accelerate this change, we’re collaborating with a pioneering health care technology and services company, Quartet Health.
Together, Blue Cross NC and Quartet Health will support primary care doctors to:
Identify patients with underlying behavioral health conditions. Through the combination of Blue Cross NC support and Quartet Health’s technology platform, primary care physicians will have the support they need to screen, diagnose and treat patients.
Connect patients to the right care, sooner. Physicians will have access to data and resources to help them refer patients requiring additional care to a trusted network of behavioral health providers.
Be a vital part of a coordinated care team. Primary care and behavioral health providers will collaborate using the Quartet Health platform. This way, patients benefit from coordinated care that treats all of their health conditions.
We believe high-quality behavioral health treatment should be available to all North Carolinians, so we’re providing tools and resources to all doctors and hospitals in the state at no cost.
The Quartet Health collaboration highlights our commitment to building an innovative, value-based care strategy to address mental health and substance use disorders. This includes paying doctors in way that support them in improving the health of their patients.
Learn about more ways we are using industry-leading approaches to treat substance use disorders.
- “Mental Health Facts in America.” National Alliance on Mental Illness. Accessed September 2019
- “Evaluating State Mental Health and Addiction Parity Statutes: State Report Card. North Carolina.” The Kennedy-Satcher Center for Mental Health Equity, Well Being Trust and Parity Track. (2018). Accessed August 2019
- “Health of Women and Children: Teen Suicide in US in 2018.” Amer ca’s Health Rankings, United Health Foundation (2019). Accessed April 2019.
- “Opioid Overdose Crisis.” National Institute on Drug Abuse (2019). Accessed April 2019.
- “The State of Mental Health in America.” Mental Health America (2019). Accessed April 2019.
- “Potential economic impact of integrated medical-behavioral healthcare.” Milliman Research Report, 2018. Accessed April 2019
