The goal of this study was to examine the extent to which Medicaid providers who deliver behavioral health services shifted their practices to mostly tele-behavioral health services during the COVID-19 pandemic. During the COVID-19 pandemic, providers who delivered mental health or substance use disorder services (hereafter referred to as behavioral health services) rapidly transitioned their in-person services to telehealth in response to social distancing recommendations from federal and state government. Telehealth can help address longstanding barriers to accessing behavioral health care, including the limited availability of providers and lack of transportation options in some communities. Tele-behavioral health services can improve patient outcomes, reduce the time and costs of receiving care, and allow people to receive confidential care when they have concerns about in-person services. Shifting behavioral health services from in-person to telehealth could, however, have unintended consequences. Certain populations, including people with disabilities or those with limited Internet access or comfort with technology, may find it difficult to engage in telehealth, and it can limit the ability of providers and patients to develop therapeutic relationships. This study found that the proportion of providers who delivered more than 80% of their behavioral health services via telehealth increased during the pandemic, with one-quarter of specialty providers delivering most behavioral health services via telehealth.
This research was conducted under contract between HHS/ASPE’s Office of Behavioral Health, Disability, and Aging Policy (BHDAP) and Mathematica. Additional research in this area is available at the ASPE Behavioral Health page and the ASPE COVID-19 page.
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