HMA Announces New Virtual Behavioral Health Product Collaboration

BELLEVUE, Wash., May 24, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Healthcare Management Administrators (HMA), a pioneer and leader in self-funded health plan benefits for hundreds of employers across the Pacific Northwest, is excited to announce a collaboration with Canopy Wellbeing and Workit Health to make available an innovative new, virtual behavioral health product that solves the complex challenges of access, quality, and affordability for employers that value whole-person health.

HMA's President and CEO, Lindsay Harris, explained, "HMA is committed to being at the forefront of innovation when it comes to the mental and behavioral health crisis facing our nation." Linda Cole, HMA's Director of Member Care added, "Our data mirrors national statistics. Over 20% of our members received mental healthcare last year. Importantly, our solution also includes a virtual treatment program for substance use disorders, which affect 1 in 50 people on average. When someone is struggling with mental health or substance use disorders, finding the right help needs to be easy. That's not always the case today due to the dearth of community-based mental health providers. Our new product makes it simple for members to engage with qualified providers quickly, empowering them to seek treatment earlier in their care journey, which can reduce future in-patient costs." 

To offer the product, HMA has partnered with two leaders in the virtual behavioral health space, Canopy Wellbeing, a Portland, OR-based behavioral health company that since 1975 has served people with heart and focused on continuous innovation, and Workit Health, a leading addiction treatment platform that offers different levels of intervention for every stage of substance use and substance use disorder. HMA began working with Canopy in July 2020 to connect members in crisis with licensed therapists trained in de-escalation and intervention, a program that continues specifically for immediate crisis resolution.

"We are excited to expand our collaboration with HMA by extending access to Canopy's panel of highly professional and diverse clinicians and particularly empowering consistency of care which allows members to stay with the same provider for the duration of their treatment plan," offered Anthony Brown, CEO of Canopy Wellbeing.

Workit Health's Co-CEO and Co-Founder, Lisa McLaughlin, added, "HMA understands that substance use disorder treatment is a key ingredient in a robust behavioral health product. We look forward to helping employers and their health plan members discover our proven digital treatment model offers compassion and convenience allowing members to make recovery a part of their daily lives."

Designed to create a more personalized and thereby more effective care experience, HMA's virtual behavioral health product expands the typical set of conditions treated to include non-diagnosable ones such as marital conflict and grief that contribute to emotional well-being but are traditionally excluded from health plan coverage. When employers purchase the product, members enrolled in a participating health plan will have low to no cost-share access to digital cognitive behavioral therapy and mindfulness tools as well as careful matching to therapists and coaches best-suited to their needs anywhere in U.S through Canopy Wellbeing. A six-session minimum helps to ensure that members have time to grow toward readiness for change and/or to begin to resolve the issues for which they seek treatment.

And, for those needing substance use disorder treatment, notably, the HMA virtual behavioral health product features affordable and accessible virtual therapy, coaching and medication assisted treatment powered by Workit Health's evidence-based treatment for alcohol, opioid, and other addictions with additional support through in-app messaging, peer recovery groups, and an interactive curriculum. Being virtual in nature and grounded in a harm reduction-based approach, it removes barriers to care such as an inability to take time off from work or pay for inpatient treatment.

ABOUT HEALTHCARE MANAGEMENT ADMINISTRATORS (HMA)
HMA is Proving What's Possible in Healthcare®. Our team of caring experts design and deliver high-quality, innovative, and affordable health plans for self-funded employers. We are the service-oriented partner employers trust to protect two of their most important assets; their people and their health plan dollars. With over 35 years of industry experience and a team of proactive, highly-skilled professionals, we help employers improve their bottom-line. We call this "Winning Together" because we're on the same side and share the same goals – healthier outcomes for members at the best possible value. To learn more, visit www.accesshma.com or follow us on LinkedIn.

SOURCE Healthcare Management Administrators, Inc.