A National Strategy to Address our Mental Health Crisis

Yesterday, the Biden Administration unveiled its strategy to address our national mental health crisis , marking a powerful moment for our nation and for our healthcare system. This is the first time we've seen any presidential administration make such strong commitments on mental healthcare, which couldn’t come at a more pivotal moment in our nation’s history. The strategy lays out a wide-ranging approach to supporting the growing mental health crisis, with a heavy focus on supporting our most underserved communities and our nation’s youth. A few highlights:?

• Recognition of the need to strengthen our system capacity? - The Biden Administration has recognized that our current healthcare system - both from a care delivery and reimbursement standpoint - is not equipped to solve our nation’s mental health crisis. At Headspace Health , we believe that there needs to be a fundamental shift toward prevention in mental healthcare — we simply can’t hire our way out of this crisis by adding more clinical providers. We must look toward lower acuity modalities of care, like behavioral health coaching — a sub-acute modality of mental healthcare which has been proven to decrease symptoms of anxiety and depression , as well as self-guided care, including meditation and mindfulness content.?
• A focus on expanding access to virtual care and increasing cultural competency - “To maintain continuity of access, the Administration will work with Congress to ensure coverage of tele-behavioral health across health plans, and support appropriate delivery of telemedicine across state lines.” Alleviating restrictions to practice virtually across state lines is crucial and long overdue. This reform is a critical step in building a mental health infrastructure that is truly equitable economically, racially and geographically, and will enable immediately increased access to those who need it most.
• Investment in research on new practice models. “The President’s FY23 budget will call for investing $5 million in research into promising models for treating mental health conditions.” As the administration has outlined, there is a pressing need for more robust research and evidence in mental healthcare. It’s encouraging to see this called out, but the investment is paltry. We’ll need far more investment and focus on research to truly move the needle — and this is particularly important with the rapid proliferation of virtual care solutions within the mental health sector. Solving this crisis should and can be our next JFK moonshot moment, but it will require the funding and commitment to accomplish.

It’s clear that solving our mental health crisis won’t happen without close collaboration, alignment and investment among providers, payers, employers and policy makers alike — and we certainly have a long road ahead. That said, this strategy is a promising signal of commitment from our nation’s leadership to address one of the most defining societal crises of our time.?

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