Health care is a constantly evolving field. Providers are continually searching for new ways to provide their patients with better overall health outcomes. One of the latest examples of that is the rise of integrated behavioral health.
Pursuing integrated behavioral health can have a significant impact on your overall wellbeing. If you’re not exactly sure what this is, don’t worry. You’ve come to the right place. Below, you’ll find all of the information that you need to know about integrated behavioral health and what it can do for you.
Before defining this term, it’s useful to understand what behavioral health is. Behavioral health is an umbrella term that includes mental health, substance abuse, stress-related physical symptoms, and other behavioral conditions.
Integrated behavioral health is like a supercharged version of that. It treats both your behavioral health concerns and the medical conditions resulting from those issues in a single place. This enables you to receive health care with a more general focus. Rather than addressing a single manifestation of a health concern, integrated behavioral health services address your entire physical and mental health and wellness at once.
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Recent research has shown that integrated behavioral health can reduce unnecessary costs and delays that are inherent to most other parts of the health care system. Even better, the research also shows that it improves overall health and patient experiences.
With that in mind, there are many different groups of people that can benefit from an integrated behavioral health approach. For example, patients with chronic health conditions are more likely to have related behavioral health concerns. They often find it easier to make health improvements when those behavioral health concerns are addressed at the same time as their physical symptoms.
Similarly, patients who prefer convenience will find value in integrated behavioral health services. This kind of treatment enables a patient to receive care for virtually everything they may be dealing with in a single place, rather than having to schedule multiple visits at several different doctor’s offices.
This may also be the right kind of treatment for patients who haven’t seen the improvements they’d like to see from other health care services. For example, if you’ve been treating behavioral issues separately from your physical health symptoms, then making the swap to integrated behavioral health services could be just what you need to start making more efficient progress towards your wellness goals.
Cost is an important part of any decision you make about health care. Although integrated behavioral health can save you money over the long run, you may still be concerned about the size of your upfront payments.
Thankfully, you may be able to cover a significant portion of the costs of integrated behavioral health services through your Medicare health insurance. Medicare may pay for an integrated behavioral health care provider’s help in certain situations.
Consider reaching out to a partnered licensed agent at Time for 65 to learn whether your visit to an integrated behavioral health specialist would be covered by Medicare. You can find that out today by either filling out this form or giving us a call. We look forward to hearing from you!
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