The Landscape Of Behavioral Health Carve-Ins

One of the biggest changes in the past five years, in the name of "integration," has been the demise of primary behavioral health carve-outs in Medicaid. There are six states that are currently planning to end their Medicaid primary behavioral health carve-outs. By definition, the primary carve-out is the exclusion of behavioral health services from the physical health plan’s capitation rate. Behavioral health services are instead paid fee-for-service (FFS) by the state or managed by a managed behavioral health organization in some type of capitated arrangement.

This shift in policy and financing is a . . .