Humana and Array Behavioral Care launch behavioral health services partnership

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Humana has entered into a partnership with Array Behavioral Care, a national telehealth practice specializing in behavioral health, with the latter slated to provide behavioral telehealth services to Humana Medicare Advantage individual and group members nationwide in 2022.

Array AtHome's virtual psychiatry and counseling services are now available to about five million Medicare Advantage members, effective Jan. 1.

Since 2016, Array has served Humana members as a covered benefit through partnerships with primary care providers, integrating behavioral care into their clinics and practices.

WHAT'S THE IMPACT?

Humana, recognizing a growing need for behavioral healthcare, has expanded its behavioral health strategy and selected Array AtHome to be one of its direct-to-patient behavioral telehealth providers, citing research showing that 25% of Medicare beneficiaries live with some form of mental illness.

The insurer expects that Array AtHome will make it easier for patients to get the requisite help through a large network of qualified clinicians and high appointment availability. Individuals seeking care are connected to ongoing services from the right licensed professional counselor, therapist or psychiatrist within days, Humana said.

Array's services are available to more than 91 million people through Humana and other payers.

Humana is expected to prioritize seniors with comorbid physical and behavioral conditions who need timely access to care. Array, for its part, offers telepsychiatry solutions and services from hospital to home through its OnDemand, Scheduled and AtHome divisions.

THE LARGER TREND

Earlier this year, Humana drastically reduced its Medicare Advantage enrollment estimates for 2022 due to a large number of terminations during the last enrollment period, revealing in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that the former projection of 325,000 to 375,000 new MA members has been slashed to 150,000 to 200,000 new members.

Humana also expects group MA membership to be generally flat throughout this year, as it doesn't anticipate any large accounts will be gained or lost.

This came after an October 2021 announcement from the insurer that it will debut a new Medicare Advantage PPO plan in 37 rural counties in North Carolina, in responding to market demand in the eastern part of the state.

A 2021 study showed that mental health services were the most common use of telehealth during the early days of the pandemic. Amid skyrocketing depression rates, the findings show that more patients used telehealth for behavioral rather than physical conditions.

This shift to telehealth, particularly video, was enabled by time-limited, regulatory changes related to reimbursement, privacy standards for telehealth technology, and licensure.
 

Twitter: @JELagasse
Email the writer: jeff.lagasse@himssmedia.com