Employers should look deeper to address mental health

In July, the Biden administration announced a proposed rule that would strengthen the requirement of insurance providers to cover mental health benefits in the same way they cover physical health, making it easier for more people to access mental health services. Given that the pandemic has caused lasting harm on our mental health, it’s a logical step, but one that faces hurdles to becoming reality. Most significantly, the country lacks a sufficient number of mental health professionals to meet the demand for care.

Employers need to be taking note, since many workers depend on their employers’ mental health coverage for help. One survey found that 81% of people said they will be looking for workplaces that support mental health when they look for work in the future.

Some employers have sprung into action, recognizing the need to support their employees’ mental health both to maintain a productive workforce and attract new talent. Employees are noticing: A 2022 survey revealed that 71% of workers believe their employer is more concerned about the mental health of employees than they were in the past.

It’s unquestionably positive that employers are doing more to address mental health, but issues with mental health in the workplace remain prevalent and a significant number of employees remain dissatisfied. And since employers on their own cannot create more providers and close the care gap, they need to take a more nuanced approach.

Addressing the source of mental health issues

Mental health issues don’t exist in a vacuum. Sometimes they can be exacerbated by stress at work, and more traditional benefits like mental health days and remote work can provide an employee the flexibility to focus on their wellbeing. In other cases, mental health issues might be linked with a physical health condition. So to effectively treat a person’s mental health, employers need to go beyond behavioral wellness-based benefits to address the comorbidity that causes or exacerbates mental health troubles.

One disease category that’s commonly linked with mental health disorders is neurological conditions, including migraine and sleep disorders. For example, people with migraine are nearly six times more likely to develop depression and four times more likely to develop anxiety than someone without migraine. A study out of Australia found that 73% of the sleep apnea patients studied had clinically significant symptoms of depression. Further, 1 in 3 employees live with a neurological condition.

Nearly every medical condition causes stress and can lead to varying degrees of depression and anxiety, but neurological conditions are unique in a few ways, even beyond their sheer prevalence. That should raise the alarm of employers looking to address mental health in their workforce.

Zeroing in on neurological conditions

Neurological conditions often don’t present visible symptoms, meaning managers and coworkers might not understand their colleagues’ lived experiences and challenges. Many employees worry about stigma so try to hide their disease and work through discomfort, which can lead to further struggles with mental health.

Neurological conditions are also often misdiagnosed, creating stress for people who spend years trying to figure out what’s wrong. Even when they do get a proper diagnosis, many of these diseases lack cures so require ongoing management by patients – which can include lifestyle modifications like nutrition plans or stress management techniques, physical and occupational therapy, treatments like infusions, biologic injections, new medications, and/or constantly following up with insurance regarding prior authorizations and medication approvals.

Add to this the unpredictability of symptoms and attacks, and the social isolation that can result from the societal stigma, and it’s easy to see how the stress and anxiety that comes with living with a neurological condition can pile up and lead to challenges with mental health.

How employers can act

There are solutions that employers can implement specific to neurological diseases which will in turn help alleviate some of the related anxiety and depression.

Providing telehealth-based neurology care is a critically important step. A shortage of qualified neurologists (just 21,000 to treat 145 million Americans who live with a neurological condition) means that people with neurological conditions are left to wait 4-6 months to get the care they need. Providers would need 10 times their patient volume in order to adequately meet demand today. Telehealth can dramatically cut down those wait times so that employees can get the care they need and the confidence that they are on the right path to manage their condition effectively.

Related: How to promote psychological safety with HR tools

Providing an expansive formulary that ensures employees have access to the medications they need is also vital. Doing so removes the uncertainty and stress that employees face of not having access to the most effective treatments. These benefits, along with relatively simple accommodations like allowing for scheduling flexibility and limiting harsh lighting and scents in the office space, can make it easier for employees to live with their neurological condition. For many, that will be transformative not only for their physical wellbeing, but their mental health.

Elizabeth Burstein is CEO and Co-Founder of Neura Health, an all-in-one benefits solution.