State Medicaid Behavioral Health Carve-Outs: The OPEN MINDS 2018 Annual Update

A carve-out is a Medicaid managed care financing model where some portion of Medicaid benefits—dental services, pharmacy services, behavioral health services, etc.—are separately managed and/or financed. When considering Medicaid behavioral health financing arrangements, there are five main models that states use to finance behavioral health benefits. Each of these models fall into one of three categories: the traditional specialty carve-out, the carve-in (no carve-out), and the vertical consumer-specific carve-out.

In this report, OPEN MINDS provides an annual update on the changes in state Medicaid behavioral health carve-out arrangements, and identifies . . .