CMS’ New Behavioral Health Model Illustrates Ongoing Effort To Push Value-Based Care, Integration Forward

The new IBH model is an effort by CMS to marshal public resources into a coordinated whole for those with severe behavioral health issues. Specifically, the model will connect adults with mental health conditions or substance use disorders (SUDs) to physical, behavioral and social supports, prioritizing a collaborative care model between behavioral health and physical health providers. The model also goes in the opposite direction of most integration programs. Instead of integrating behavioral health in physical care settings, the IBH Model calls for physical health and social support to be integrated into behavioral health, an idea becoming increasingly common in the mainstream of health care. Announced Jan. 18, the to-be-enacted program seeks to fill this void in the health care system using behavioral health as the entry point rather than vice versa. The finer details of the IBH Model are presently unknown and may only be filled in once states start working on the model. CMS will release more information later this spring in a notice of funding opportunity (NOFO). In the fall, CMS will select eight states to participate in the program. It will run for eight years, five of which will encompass the implementation period. The three-year wind-up of pre-implementation features several moving parts.