Employers address mental health through benefits

Employers address mental health through benefits and mental health-friendly culture

Mental health and emotional wellbeing remain high on employers’ agendas

#1 clinical area targeted to improve member health
A top priority for 63% employers

Virtual care

Key delivery strategy for mental health services

Employers have taken action or are planning on taking action to deliver mental health services in the upcoming years.
	Action taken/Tactic used in 2023	Planning for 2024	Considering for 2025
Virtual care	83%	6%	4%
Primary care	52%	6%	6%
Digital therapeutics	34%	6%	9%
Onsite/Near-site facilities	24%	3%	8%
Centers of excellence	18%	4%	11%
At-home services	13%	2%	7%

Key finding

Employers prioritize mental health navigation and tailored vendor solutions

Improve mental health

Promote mental health-friendly culture and ensure parity compliance

Employers have taken action or are planning on taking action to promote mental health-friendly culture in the upcoming years.
	Action taken/Tactic used in 2023	Planning for 2024	Considering for 2025
Conduct mental health parity audit	39%	14%	10%
Partner with employee resource groups to address mental health issues	37%	11%	10%
Eliminate cost sharing for virtual care visits	26%	5%	11%
Evaluate mental health network to ensure diverse representation	20%	14%	13%
Provide mental health day(s) off	18%	3%	14%
Expand disability coverage	11%	5%	8%
Eliminate cost sharing for in-network visits	9%	4%	12%
Reduce/Eliminate cost sharing for out-of-network visits	6%	4%	6%

Enhance emotional wellbeing

Through behavioral health strategy, training and measurement

Top actions taken in 2023

85% address stigma and increase employee understanding
69% take actions to build employee resilience
61% take actions to support dependents with behavioral health issues

Key delivery strategy for emotional wellbeing

Employers have taken action or are planning on taking action to address emotional wellbeing in the upcoming years.
	Action taken/Tactic used in 2023	Planning for 2024	Considering for 2025
Train managers to identify employees’ emotional health issues	52%	17%	13%
Have an organization-wide behavioral health strategy/action plan	47%	16%	13%
Increase access to outpatient treatment for substance abuse	27%	7%	12%
Address prescription medication/coverage for serious mental illness diagnoses	22%	5%	13%
Implement a measurement strategy to track mental health outcomes	19%	15%	16%

Actions to take now!

Create an organization-wide behavioral health strategy and establish a framework for measuring outcomes.
Provide training for managers to lead with empathy and to identify mental health and substance use disorder issues.
Explore ways to improve mental healthcare through virtual care, primary care integration and digital therapeutics.
Perform a comprehensive mental health parity audit and implement measures to ensure compliance.
Ensure accessibility and affordability of mental health services.

About the survey: A total of 457 employers participated in the 2023 Best Practices in Healthcare Survey, which was conducted in June and July 2023. Respondents employ 7.3 million employees.

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