HHS explains roadmap to advance behavioral health

Leaders in the Department of Health and Human Services laid out in a Health Affairs article its roadmap to advance behavioral health. The agency will integrate behavioral health care into “health care, social service and early childhood systems to ensure all people have equitable access to evidence-based, culturally appropriate, person-centered care.” To strengthen system capacity, HHS intends to build a diverse workforce, expand the evidence base for value-based, integrated care models, and establish behavioral-health-integration quality measures and models. HHS will connect more Americans to care by redefining primary care to include behavioral health, engaging populations at highest risk, and enforcing early and periodic screening, diagnostic and treatment benefit. HHS will also prioritize investment in research on effective promotion and prevention programs and integrate evidence-based programs into HHS services across the lifespan. (Health Affairs article, 12/2/22)