How Arizona Medicaid Bridges the Divide Between Behavioral and Physical Health Services
<p>In most states, one agency has responsibility for Medicaid enrollees’ physical health services and at least one other agency oversees their behavioral health services. This separation often impedes the delivery of integrated care to patients and the implementation of value-based strategies for paying for care.</p><p>But Arizona is trying a different approach. In a new Commonwealth Fund issue brief, Deborah Bacharach and colleagues with Manatt, Phelps & Phillips explore whether the state’s effort to merge behavioral health services into its Medicaid agency is facilitating care integration for enrollees and, if so, whether doing so is worth the effort.</p>
<p>As Medicaid has taken on a larger role following the Affordable Care Act’s expansion of the program, many states are thinking about ways to ensure that enrollees have access to quality, cost-effective, and integrated care. The authors show how Arizona has gone a step further, by reforming its agency infrastructure to advance care integration. </p>