The IOM released a new report that focuses with lazer precision on the bulk of the costs in our so-called cost curve: chronic conditions. The report exposes the importance of tackling multiple or comorbid chronic conditions and illustrates with tremendous clarity the crucial role of social/cultural factors, behavior and behavioral health, family and physical environs, and learned coping mechanisms in relation to biological and genetic determinants. The bottom-line is that we have a bulging healthcare burden that is driven to a great extent by social and behavioral health. Click here for a summary of the 307 page report.
Make Hay NOW
The behavioral health fields and sectors must seize on this new report to make the case for behavioral health interventions and coverage. Making the case for integration, collaboration and highly-integrated approaches to care, financing, and information exchange has never been easier.
Cream of the Crop – Behavioral Health is Tops
Of the top 9 conditions cited by the IOM as contributing to a perilous economic situation, depression, schizophrenia, and post traumatic conditions appear. When one adds chronic pain and obesity to the list – those shaped largely by behavioral health (mental health and substance use disorders/addictions), the list screams for behavioral health attention. The addition of dementia makes 6 of the top 9 brain and behavior related conditions at the core of 80% of of US spending on health care! Click here to see the list.
What Next?
Behavioral health providers and systems are urged to download the report and enter serious innovation discussions and cycles. New programs, products and services, new relationships and new business models must be invested in now.
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