Dr Lori Raney on How Integrating Physical and Behavioral Health Can Bring Down Costs

Patients with both physical and behavioral health conditions have significantly higher healthcare costs, so integrating both sides of their care can help lower those costs, explained Lori Raney, MD, principal, Health Management Associates.

Transcript

What links have been identified between mental health disorders and physical health conditions?

There are some very serious links between the physical and behavioral health conditions in patients, and a really nice report came out from the American Psychiatric Association a few years ago, and what it showed was that if you have a chronic health condition and a behavioral health condition, it increases the total cost of care 2- to 3-fold, so a very significant increase in cost if you have a behavioral health condition. The thought is if we integrate primary care and behavioral health, we can dramatically bring down the cost of healthcare by helping as much on the physical health side as on the behavioral health side.