We’ve reached a new era in behavioral health. According to a recent poll, 74% of full-time employees in the U.S. say it’s appropriate to discuss mental health concerns at work — a sign that, in some ways, the long-standing stigma surrounding the issue is decreasing. But that doesn’t mean our work is over. Despite the progress we’ve made, more than half of employees report having burnout.

While burnout isn’t a mental health condition in and of itself, it’s closely tied to the development of several mental health conditions. For example, employees who experience burnout have a 180% increased risk of developing depressive disorders and a 57% increased risk of workplace absence due to illness. And a study from 2023 estimated that depression alone cost the U.S. $333.7 Billion in 2019.

These costs and challenges are part of only one small snapshot of behavioral health today. It’s crucial that employers remain aware of the impact of both the progress being made around behavioral health and the struggles that require new strategies to effectively support the full health of employees. It requires access to resources, care management and treatment that’s connected to their full benefits — because mental health is vital to one’s overall health.

The Scale of Impact

Since 2020, an increasing number of people have been seeking mental health services as behavioral health challenges have been on the rise. There’s been a three-fold increase in depression and anxiety since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, and 90% of adults in the U.S. believe the country is facing a mental health crisis.

These challenges are all the more difficult to address when employees struggle to access care in the first place. A compounding issue is the shortage of behavioral health providers nationwide. By 2025, we will be short about 31,000 full-time-equivalent practitioners. These rampant shortages can lead to delays in receiving care, which can mean developing more complex health challenges down the line including higher costs of care.

So, where do you focus your efforts?

Enabling members to easily connect to the right form of outpatient behavioral health care can  make a big difference for those suffering from these concerns. It also can help reduce the total cost of care by decreasing inpatient utilization, ER visits, treatment for comorbidities, and out-of-network spending, as well as the indirect costs including lost productivity.

We have greatly expanded our provider networks and added more tools to enable members to receive the outpatient care they need when they need it.

During the three-year period from 2021 to 2024, we saw a greater than 15% increase in the use of outpatient professional behavioral health services in our five states. Even with those increases, over the same period there was an 8% drop in members needing acute inpatient psychiatric services. Considering that the average cost of an inpatient psychiatric admission is about $10,000, each annual drop in admissions can mean significantly less spent per year. This is the result of developing a comprehensive system of care rather than relying on the traditionally provided fragmented care.

A Key Strategy

To increase access to care even beyond our substantial networks of providers, our company partnered with Headway, one of the largest networks of therapists and psychiatrists in the United States. It offers members access to a network of more than 40,000 behavioral health providers. Members can make, find and schedule available appointments online, selecting the type of care they need with options for virtual and in-person visits with different clinical specialists.

In addition, there is a variety of online services and portals we have instituted that can help your employees struggling with behavioral health issues.

• To provide a digital one-stop-shop for members to access care, we created a Mental Health Hub through our member portals that are specific to members’ plan benefits and location. The Hub includes a self-assessment and access to specialists for substance use disorders, pediatric and adult mental health, eating disorders and obsessive-compulsive disorder. There is also a mechanism for our clinical team to reach out to the member to offer guidance and support. The Mental Health Hub has been accessed more than 35,000 times within four months of its launch.
• We offer another digital solution through our website and member portal called Learn to Live, an online service that gives members 24/7 access to assessments, cognitive behavioral health programs, coaching, and resources to manage stress and anxiety, depression, insomnia, substance use, panic, and resilience. More than 60,000 of our members have used this platform, marking a 40% reduction in panic,  31% reduction in anxiety and depression, and 36% improvement in substance use disorder.

Other important considerations

• Take a holistic view of employee health to understand that the emotional, physical and mental aspects of a person’s health are interrelated and have a direct impact on quality of life.
• Ensure that you offer an Employee Assistance Program (EAP) to provide confidential counseling and resources for personal and professional challenges. EAPs can help employees manage stress, anxiety, and other issues that can negatively impact their performance. They also contribute to a healthier and more productive workplace by addressing issues like substance abuse, grief, and family problems.
• Engage employees to take care of themselves through the EAP or other resources, no matter if they need short-term help for a life event, are struggling with substance use or needing acute or intensive case management for a serious mental illness.
• Offer stress reduction programs such as meditation and group activities that foster socialization for employees to reduce stressful work environment since managing mental and physical health can be difficult in times of stress.  
• Consider implementing a Mental Health First Aid program to support employee well-being.  Established by the nonprofit  National Council for Mental Wellbeing, the program provides employees in your organization with evidence-based, early - intervention training to be “allies” for their co-workers, helping them to access the company’s behavioral health resources.  
• Offer health insurance that integrates pharmacy, medical, and behavioral health benefits to provide a seamless employee experience and lower health care costs.

Mental Health is Vital to Overall Health

Integrating behavioral health coverage with physical health coverage is the best way to provide easier access to care, preventive strategies and whole-person support. This kind of approach can lead to significant savings. In fact, data show that employer groups which have carved in their medical and pharmacy benefits saved an average of $360 per member per year and even more for those members who had chronic behavioral health conditions, compared to those who had a fragmented, carve-out model.

The reason for this is simple: behavioral health is connected to every aspect of overall health. So much so that comorbidities of behavioral and physical health conditions are very common and costly. For instance, the cost of treating members with both diabetes and depression diagnoses is more than double the cost of treating members with only diabetes.

These issues cannot be addressed in a silo. Integrating access is the most seamless and effective way forward for both you and your employees. Another key area to focus on is social determinants of health and how they impact your workforce. About 90% of these determinants are derived from the social and physical environment throughout our lives. Creating environments in which employees have easy access to mental health and self-care resources will help them thrive.

Many employees struggle with lack of resource awareness, navigation challenges, cost concerns and provider fit — just to name a few. Comprehensive benefits that include robust behavioral health coverage, communicated clearly and simply to your workforce, can make the difference between them suffering in silence and feeling empowered to act. We can help you connect the dots.

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The Bottom Line

In our experience, removing the traditional obstacles and instead helping employees easily connect to therapy with the right provider can result in lower direct health care costs. It may also reduce indirect costs such as absenteeism, lower productivity and substance use. Our data show it to be true, and it has a profound impact for those who need care.

Working in partnership with a company that understands employee mental and behavioral health needs and offers a full array of resources to support them can help boost retention and productivity, impact health care costs and promote a healthier culture overall.

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This article was written by Frank Webster, M.D., Chief Medical Officer at Health Care Service Corporation.