Integration—Strategic Threat (& Opportunity) For Specialists

For all kinds of specialist organizations, the market effects of payer preferences for "integration" are presenting formidable strategic challenges. These challenges include fewer behavioral health carve-outs (see State Medicaid Behavioral Health Carve-Outs: The OPEN MINDS 2018 Annual Update and The Medicaid Health Plan Secondary Carve-Out Market Landscape: The OPEN MINDS 2017 Annual Update); health plans contracting with accountable care organizations (ACO) for all services (see The 2018 OPEN MINDS Medicare ACO Update: A Four-Year Trends Report); more federal funding expanding behavioral health in Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHC); a Medicare collaborative care model that allows primary . . .