Medicaid Behavioral Health Providers Delivering Most Behavioral Health Services via Telehealth Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic

This study examined the extent to which Medicaid providers who deliver behavioral health services shifted their practices to mostly telehealth during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study found that nearly 30% of specialty behavioral health providers delivered most behavioral health services via telehealth during the first year of the pandemic compared to 0.5% of these providers in the year before the pandemic. One-quarter of specialty providers were still delivering most behavioral health services via telehealth into the second year of the pandemic. The large shift in the share of providers who delivered almost all behavioral health services via telehealth, especially among specialty providers, could have implications for the accessibility and quality of behavioral health services. Further investigation into the types of behavioral health services delivered via telehealth and the characteristics of providers that deliver most of their behavioral health services via telehealth could help inform future policy decisions on tele-behavioral health flexibilities.