Implementing a Whole Health Model in a Community Mental Health Center: Impact on Service Utilization and Expenditures

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: This study examined whether implementing a whole health care model in a community mental health center reduced the use of acute care services and total Medicare expenditures. The whole health care model embedded monitoring of overall health and wellness education within the center's outpatient mental and substance use disorder treatment services, and it improved care coordination with primary care providers. METHODS: This study used fee-for-service Medicare administrative claims and enrollment data for June 2009 through July 2015 for the intervention (N=846) and matched comparison group (N=2,643) to estimate a difference-in-differences model. RESULTS: For the first two-and-a-half years of the program, Medicare expenditures decreased by $266 per month on average for each enrolled beneficiary in the intervention group relative to the comparison group (p