MA Health Plans to Expand Access to Virtual Behavioral Healthcare

Point32Health, the parent organization of Harvard Pilgrim Health Care and Tufts Health Plan, is partnering with Valera Health to expand access to telebehavioral health services in Massachusetts.

Valera Health provides adult and pediatric behavioral health patients access to therapists and psychiatrists through telehealth. The organization covers 37 million Americans through partnerships with more than 20 health plans, including Medicaid, Medicare, and commercial plans across several states.

Through the new partnership, Harvard Pilgrim Health Care and Tufts Health Plan members in Massachusetts will gain access to Valera Health's virtual behavioral healthcare services.  

"Valera's virtual behavioral health care solution provides a professional and convenient online platform that enables us to expand mental health services for our members, without compromising on quality," said Jill Borrelli, vice president of behavioral health at Point32Health, in the press release. "We are dedicated to providing our members – those who receive coverage through their employers, Medicare beneficiaries and those on MassHealth – with access to the mental health care they deserve, helping us to expand equitable access across our lines of business."

Valera Health, which closed a $44.5 million growth equity round in October, aims to provide personalized care to patients, including communities of color and LGBTQ+ populations. According to a prior press release, more than 50 percent of Valera's clinicians self-identify as Black, Hispanic, or Asian and speak multiple languages.

"Valera and Point32Health share a joint commitment of utilizing proven, innovative methods to guide and empower our community members to achieve healthier lives," said Valera Health CEO and Co-founder Thomas Tsang, MD, in the press release.

Widespread access to behavioral healthcare is critical amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Demand for behavioral services skyrocketed after the pandemic began, with 40.9 percent of US adults reporting at least one adverse mental or behavioral health condition, including symptoms of anxiety or depressive disorder, in June 2020, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data shows.

According to a recent study, telehealth use increased significantly during this time, offsetting the drop in in-person access to care.

Researchers assessed county-level service use data from a national US database of commercial medical claims between Jan. 5 and Dec. 21, 2020. They found that while in-person mental healthcare utilization rates dropped by 50 percent, telehealth use jumped 16-to 20-fold.

Researchers concluded that "the magnitude of this increase (roughly a 16- to 20-fold increase in utilization) fully compensated for the decline in in-person care."

Additionally, research shows that despite an overall decline in virtual care use since 2020, patients with mental health and substance use disorders flocked to telehealth.

In 2021, only 5 percent of outpatient care visits occurred through telehealth. Yet, usage remained relatively high for mental health and substance use disorders at 36 percent, according to a Kaiser Family Foundation report. The report analyzed a data set comprising more than 126 million patients from 156 organizations that use Epic systems.

Not only that, but patient comfort with virtual mental healthcare also solidified during the pandemic. A nationwide survey of more than 3,000 healthcare consumers in 2021 revealed that 7 percent of Baby Boomers, 15 percent of Generation X respondents, 28 percent of Millennials, and 23 percent of Generation Z respondents said they preferred virtual therapy to in-person therapy services.