Growing demand for employee mental health access: Is telehealth the answer?

Increasing national focus on supporting those experiencing mental health challenges is among the positive outcomes of the pandemic. Evidence abounds that the anxiety and isolation employees suffered from led to a surge in mental and behavioral health incidents.

Now, research is beginning to demonstrate that plan sponsors are embracing any and all help they can find for their still-stressed-out workers. A recent survey by three organizations focused on online mental/behavioral health services offers further evidence that progress is being made to include such services in benefits packages.

The report, Voice of the Purchaser Survey on Behavioral Health Support, was produced via collaboration among the National Alliance of Healthcare Purchase Coalitions, HR Policy Association, and Path Forward Steering Committee. Researchers tapped into a network of employer plan sponsor representatives who responded to the survey.

At a high level, the results paint a picture of plan sponsors creating a new demand for more support that has yet to be fully met. However, according to the survey, telehealth clearly empowers plan members to begin to address the barriers they face in accessing mental health support. It demonstrates that employees are overcoming such barriers as the stigma of asking for help.

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In short, most plan members find teletherapy effective and want more of it. But barriers such as accessibility to services and cost of doing so continue to limit virtual therapy’s true opportunities.

“Employer interest in providing plan members with behavioral health solutions is absolutely higher today than pre-pandemic,” says Dr. Nikole Benders-Hadi, a licensed psychiatrist and medical director of behavioral health with Included Health, a provider of online therapy for employer sponsored plans. “The barriers to utilization – stigmas around seeking help, affordability and access – remain but are being addressed as more employers understand the need to make it part of their benefits package.”

A major piece of the puzzle that has yet to fall into place: the integration of mental and behavioral health services with the primary care services employees have available to them through their plans, Benders-Hadi says. As a result, many employees still must seek help outside of their networks, which requires more of their time seeking services and then more money paying for them. Integration of virtual therapy goes far to solving both of those barriers.

The survey results bear her out. Among the top findings from the employer cohort:

• Tele-behavioral health services were important to 95% of employers and 65% were satisfied with these services
• 99% agreed that effective and timely access to in-network behavioral health providers is important, but only 31% were satisfied with the current state of support
• 84% of employers agreed that behavioral health access and quality are as important as the financial management of behavioral health costs
• 84% agreed that it was important that plans support, promote and incentivize integration of behavioral health into primary care, but only 28% were satisfied
• Achieving high engagement in workplace behavioral health programs was important to 92%, but only 39% were satisfied
• 31% expressed dissatisfaction with efforts to systematically identify and address gaps in network access

Benders-Hadi says Included Health is acutely aware of the access situation – she said the average wait time for a behavioral health appointment is 48 days. Included Health has staffed up so that a plan member can be guaranteed of an initial virtual appointment within seven days.

Another issue: promoting the service to plan members. She says while some employers can handle the task, Included Health “works in partnership with plan sponsors to determine a advertising plan to members.” That may include webinars or direct advertising to members, whatever tactic works best.

The good news, she says, is that at least employers are demanding mental and behavioral support for members. Fully integrating such services with the plan’s primary care provider still represents challenges. But virtual therapy can be easily included in the benefits package now to meet the surging need.