Four ‘Mega Trends’ Driving Sustainability In The Mental Health Market – Ignore At Your Own Risk

Over the past year, I’ve done a lot of thinking about the possible changes in the health and human service market, and more specifically, mental health. Behavioral health spending reached $213.6 billion last year — for an increase of $25.2 billion, or 13.4%, since 2011. The majority of that total was for mental health services, which accounted for 84%, or $195.6 billion, in spending.

It's a big market. So why is it so hard for provider organizations to break even? There are historical licensure and regulatory issues, workforce distribution issues, the cost of uninsured care . . .