We’re encouraging physician organizations to recruit more psychiatrists, psychologists and chiropractors

Did you know?

• Approximately 15 percent of adults receive mental health services every year.
• Approximately 14 percent of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan members seek care from a chiropractor — a higher percentage than those who seek care from a cardiologist or dermatologist.

Although Blue Cross members frequently use chiropractic and mental health services, the number of participating chiropractors, psychiatrists and fully licensed psychologists in our Physician Group Incentive Program physician organizations lags behind the number of providers in other specialties. That’s why we’re increasing the engagement reward for POs that recruit psychiatrists, fully licensed psychologists and chiropractors from $500 per new practitioner to $1,000 per new practitioner this year.

Background
This change is part of our ongoing commitment to better integrate behavioral health with general medical care and encourage collaboration among all provider types.

“Closer collaboration among physicians, chiropractors and behavioral health specialist within the setting of a PO or Organized System of Care can have a positive effect on both cost and quality performance,” said Emily Santer, health care manager with Value Partnerships. “Our OSC program, along with our Patient-Centered Medical Home and PCMH-Neighborhood programs, all promote good communication among practitioners who provide care to a shared population of patients. POs and OSCs are held accountable for the quality of care provided to their attributed members, along with the costs associated with the attributed membership.”

Behavioral health integration at MedNetOne
MedNetOne was one of the first Michigan physician organizations to actively seek behavioral health specialists as members.

“Integrating behavioral health with primary care for whole person care was the impetus behind our efforts to actively recruit behavioral health specialists as members of MedNetOne,” said Ewa Matuszewski, CEO of MedNetOne. “True coordination of care under the PCMH model — a model to which we are deeply committed — is only achieved when there is a strong behavioral health component in the PCMH ecosystem.”

Matuszewski points to Judson Center Family Health Clinic in Warren as a good example of collaboration between primary care physicians and behavioral health specialists. The clinic, staffed in part by MedNetOne care team members, specializes in helping individuals achieve optimal mental and physical health.

“Our behavioral health metrics and anecdotal evidence have verified the value of adopting this integrated approach and we strongly encourage other POs to do the same,” Matuszewski said.

Recognizing POs for recruitment efforts
The Value Partnerships team would like to offer kudos to the following physician organizations for their recruiting efforts from the fall of 2017 through the summer of 2018:

• Psychologists
• Henry Ford Medical Group
• Medical Network One
• Spectrum Health Medical Group
• United Physicians
• Psychiatrists
• University of Michigan Health System
• Henry Ford Medical Group
• Chiropractors
• CIPA
• Oakland Southfield Physicians