Impact of the Collaborative Care Model on Medical Spending

AJMC October 13, 2023
Courtney Benjamin Wolk, PhD, Eric Wilkinson, PhD, Cecilia Livesey, MD, David W. Oslin, MD, K. Ryan Connolly, MD, MS, Aaron Smith-McLallen, PhD, Matthew J. Press, MD, MSc

Modest spending on integrated mental health services in primary care, facilitated by use of new collaborative care billing codes, did not increase overall health care costs.

ABSTRACT

Objectives: The collaborative care model integrates mental health care into primary care. In 2017, CMS created new billing codes to reimburse collaborative care. We measured the impact of a program supported by these codes on medical spending.

Study Design: Quasi-experimental.

Methods: We identified a commercially insured and managed Medicare sample of 825 patients who received collaborative care services in 8 primary care practices. We used propensity score matching to match treated patients to potential controls, resulting in 569 patients per group. We performed a difference-in-differences regression analysis to evaluate the impact of collaborative...

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