Owl Engages 92% Providers and Members to Reduce Time to Remission for Behavioral Health Plan
Companion Benefit Alternatives (CBA), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Blue Cross Blue Shield of South Carolina, is dedicated to helping people maximize the value of their behavioral health benefits, thus promoting optimal behavioral health care outcomes in a cost-efficient manner.
During a 14-month initiative, CBA provided six of their behavioral health network practices, totaling 80 providers with 5,000+ patients, access to Owl’s platform to engage providers and members in measurement-based care. The results validated the power of Owl’s Measurement-Based Care Program with 92% provider and member engagement, a 32% reduction in time to remission, and members were 34% more likely to reach remission in eight weeks.
The Problem
The mission of CBA is to promote the best behavioral health outcomes in a cost-effective manner. As demand surges for behavioral health services, it has never been more important to understand if the network is delivering high-quality and cost-effective services.
Yet, for CBA and many other health plans, the only consistent data and visibility into the network are duration and type of treatment through claims data. Behavioral health networks like CBA often use HEDIS process measures as a proxy for quality, but HEDIS data isn’t useful for measuring patient outcomes, nor do they measure how a patient is responding to and progressing through care.
Are members getting better? How can providers be incentivized to gather and share outcomes data? Where should the health plan invest care management dollars to maximize member benefit?
The Solution
CBA deployed Owl’s Measurement-Based Care Program into their network to answer these questions and more.
Research supports, and leaders in behavioral health advocate for, the use of measurement-based care to indicate and improve the quality of care. With greater alignment on behavioral health quality and how to measure it, plans can help improve overall member health, increase efficiencies in care, and reduce the total cost of care.
OWL’S PROGRAM INCLUDES:
- Owl’s value-based behavioral health network design and deployment strategy
- Owl’s member engagement solution that automatically sends text messages and
or emails to patients prior to appointments to complete outcome assessments - Standardized and pre-configured bundles of validated measures that holistically
assess each member’s behavioral health,including depression, anxiety, substance
use, wellbeing as well as social determinants of health
- Ongoing assessment of member progress and therapeutic alliance throughout treatment, leading to more personalized and targeted treatment
- Value-based performance and member level analysis to the network providers
- Network performance reporting and analysis to the health plan
The Results
Providers and patients were highly engaged in the Owl Program
CBA achieved a 92% clinician engagement rate—defined as the number of clinicians at participating practices who consistently used Owl. Members were also highly engaged. Of the 63,000 measures assigned, 58,000 were completed— leading to 92% of members completing their assigned assessments. With high engagement levels, CBA was able to prove they can gather and share the evidence-based outcomes metrics they need without putting additional burden on providers.
Members go better, faster
Members participating in the Owl Measurement-Based Care Program were 34% more likely to reach remission in eight weeks. Moreover, members reached remission 32% faster than those not participating in the program.
Natalie Johnston | Executive Director, Behavioral Health Network, Companion Benefit Alternatives
About Owl
Owl helps plans assess and improve their behavioral health network and reduce the cost of care through engaging members and providers in gathering standardized outcomes data. Core to the Owl Measurement-Based Care Program is a value-based behavioral health playbook and an easy-to-use technology platform. The comprehensive Owl Program engages members, informs clinicians, optimizes and improves treatment, optimizes network performance, and reduces total cost of care.
If you’re ready to embrace measurement-based care for your network, Owl can help.
Please contact us
today to learn more.