State Medicaid Behavioral Health Carve-Outs: The OPEN MINDS 2019 Annual Update

Medicaid financing of behavioral health (mental health and addiction) benefits across state Medicaid programs can take one of three forms—the benefits can be integrated with financing for physical health across the plan (either within the fee-for-service [FFS] plan or a Medicaid health plan), the benefits can be included in a vertical consumer-specific specialty carve-out plan, or the benefits can be managed through a traditional specialty carve-out (to a public or private entity). A carve-out is a Medicaid managed care financing model where some portion of Medicaid benefits—dental services, pharmacy services, behavioral health . . .