Returning for the second consecutive year as the Premier Policy Partner for the Behavioral Health Tech 2025 conference, the Meadows Mental Health Policy Institute led strategic and forward-looking policy discussions, demonstrating how policy and innovation can work together to transform behavioral health care. From advancing measurement-informed care through AI-enabled solutions to emphasizing the importance of interoperability, leaders from the Meadows Institute highlighted key policy shifts underway and reinforced the importance of intentional and strategic policy foresight to translate innovation and disruptive technology into measurable, real-world impact and market growth. Understanding the signals and emerging trends within the policy landscape is crucial for digital mental health innovators to leverage policy as a growth lever to accelerate impact and scalability.

During the 2025 Conference, Chief Policy Officer John Snook held a fireside chat with Christina Silcox from the Duke-Margolis Institute for Health Policy titled "Where Are We Now? Opportunities to Advance Digital Behavioral Health in the Current Policy Environment.” Their discussion underscored the crucial importance of strategically and proactively engaging in policy initiatives, especially as these developments shape how new technologies are implemented, reimbursed, and scaled. As technology in behavioral health often advances faster than regulation can keep pace, many innovators frequently find themselves building solutions for a world that doesn’t yet exist. In their conversation, Snook and Silcox emphasized the importance of engaging in policy discussions early to ensure that innovations are positioned to navigate the regulatory and policy frameworks proactively, rather than reacting to it. Historically, behavioral health has been excluded from major federal infrastructure initiatives, such as the HITECH Act; however, recent signals from policymakers and regulators indicate interest from the Administration in addressing outdated health tech infrastructure. Areas such as interoperability, standardized benchmark frameworks, and common data standards suggest that behavioral health data and digital infrastructure are becoming increasingly central to the national health agenda.

As digital behavioral health continues to evolve and mature, thoughtful integration alongside the broader health ecosystem remains critical. In the session "Measure What Matters: It’s More Than You Think," Senior Vice President of Health System Integration Clare McNutt and fellow panelists acknowledged that while digital health is transforming care and providing clinicians with new ways to reach and engage patients, ensuring that quality keeps pace with these novel interventions is essential. Understanding how digital tools interact with existing systems and workflows is also critical. Innovators and digital health entrepreneurs must understand the interplay between their technology and the health tech infrastructure overall. In the conference session, “Measure Up! Why Policy Must Drive Measurement-Based Care,” Chief Innovation Officer Kacie Kelly and co-panelists highlighted the role of policy and financial incentives in supporting the usability and integration of measurement tools and metrics. When designed with health policy knowledge, these tools can serve as a bridge between innovation and care delivery. Interoperability ensures that systems are connected and communicate using a common language, and AI will most certainly accelerate interoperability solutions. This is crucial to ensuring that innovation can be deployed and implemented meaningfully and improve outcomes across the continuum of care.

To continue driving meaningful change, prudent innovators will see policy as a growth tool instead of only a necessary compliance issue. In the session “Eye on the Prize: Leading Through Headwinds and Tailwinds to Advance Outcomes, Boost Profitability, and Secure Your Bottom Line,” Kacie Kelly and other panelists argued that value emerges for all stakeholders when technology, policy, financial incentives, and usability align. Innovation isn’t enough on its own. The next decade of mental health innovation won’t be won by better tech – it will be won by those who know how to navigate policy strategically. Revolutionizing behavioral healthcare requires proactively engaging with policy, building integrated, quality measurement-informed solutions, and collaborating across the ecosystem. Aligning technology, data, financing strategies, and policy from the outset enables tools that are impactful and scalable.

One way to get smarter on health tech policy is by subscribing to HeadsUp, a federal policy consultation service created specifically for investors and entrepreneurs advancing innovations in the mental health, brain health, and neurotech sectors. Recently launched by the Meadows Institute, HeadsUp provides direct, real-time access to expert perspectives and analysis, making sure leaders are equipped and positioned for effective action when it’s needed most.