Federal Action Needed to Close Mental Health Care Gaps Despite 10-Fold Growth in Proven Care Model

The COMPLETE Care Act could drive further expansion of the Collaborative Care Model

WASHINGTON, May 20, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- A first-ever national analysis reveals a tenfold increase in the commercial health insurance market in the use of the Collaborative Care Model – a proven team-based approach to mental health care that integrates screening, treatment, and psychiatric consultation directly into primary care. The model is available in all 50 states, but access remains limited: an estimated 100,000 people received services as billed for in commercial insurance in 2023, 1% or less of the nearly 60 million adults and children with mild and moderate mental illness who could benefit.

An independent global data analysis firm analyzed five years of claims data for 219 million people – nearly two-thirds of the U.S. population – in a study commissioned by the Meadows Mental Health Policy Institute, on behalf of Path Forward, and in partnership with the American Psychiatric Association.

Path Forward released the following materials today in support of the expansion of the Model:

• The claims analysis covering 219 million people from 2018 to 2022 for Medicare and Medicaid and 2018 to 2023 for commercial insurance.
• A heat map developed by Meadows Institute identifying coverage across the nation.
• A statement urging Congress to pass the COMPLETE Care Act, legislation that would increase Medicare reimbursement to help cover implementation costs, the biggest barrier to broader adoption.

"If every American suffering from depression had access to the Collaborative Care Model, we estimate that approximately 14,000 lives could be saved each year from suicide," said Andy Keller, the president and CEO of the Meadows Institute. "The Collaborative Care Model is the gold standard for delivering mental health in primary care settings because mental health is, at its core, simply a very important part of health. This model is the single most impactful step we can take to get upstream, before tragedy strikes, to make Americans healthy again."

In the Collaborative Care Model, a team led by a primary care provider and supported by a behavioral health care manager leverages the time of a psychiatric consultant to treat up to eight times more patients. The Collaborative Care Model reduces depression recovery times sevenfold, and more than 90 randomized clinical trials have proven the model's effectiveness. While start-up implementation costs can be a temporary hurdle, the Collaborative Care Model is 100% sustainable with billing codes once it is up and running.

A number of metropolitan areas across the country saw particularly high adoption rates:

• In Jackson, Michigan, the number of patients with Medicare Advantage participating in the Collaborative Care Model is 23.7 times greater than the national average for Medicare Advantage.
• In Prescott Valley-Prescott, Arizona, the number of patients with Medicaid and CHIP participating in the Collaborative Care Model is 26.5 times greater than the national average for Medicaid and CHIP.
• In Sherman-Denison, Texas, the number of patients with commercial insurance participating in the Collaborative Care Model is 8.6 times greater than the average in the commercial market.

"The Collaborative Care Model is an evidence-based, effective and innovative method of delivering high-quality mental health care to patients in the primary care setting who need it," said APA CEO and Medical Director Marketa M. Wills, M.D., M.B.A. "Given the ongoing mental health crisis, the opioid epidemic and high rates of suicide, the widespread implementation of this model is now more essential than ever to reach the growing number of Americans in need of quality mental health services. Simply stated, the more we adopt the Collaborative Care Model, the more patients can access it, and the more lives we will save."

Nearly one in five U.S. adults experience a mental health disorder each year and 20% of high school students report seriously considering suicide. The findings arrive amid a critical moment for the nation's mental health.

About

Path Forward is a coalition of health care purchasers, clinician associations, health systems, philanthropists, and health-related nonprofits united by one goal: ensuring equitable access to quality mental health and substance use care.

The Meadows Mental Health Policy Institute is an independent, nonpartisan organization that works at the intersection of policy and programs to advance equitable, data-driven mental health solutions nationwide.

The American Psychiatric Association is the nation's oldest and the world's largest psychiatric organization with over 39,000 physician members.

A Note About the Data

While some of the data and statements set forth in this press release are based on the commissioned analysis of claims data from 2018 to 2023, some data and statements are derived from other sources in whole or in part. None of the data and statements set forth above reflect a complete and unaltered account of the commissioned analysis of claims data from 2018 to 2023. A complete and unaltered account of the commissioned analysis of claims data from 2018 to 2023 can be found here.

Contact: Juliana Keeping
External Relations Director, Path Forward
Phone: (202) 743-5536
E-mail: [email protected]

SOURCE Path Forward