Promoting health payment reform literacy: Does integrated care save money?

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Introduction: Under the current payment environment, the challenges to implementing and sustaining integrated behavioral health care are substantial. One key barrier for clinicians, administrators, researchers, and patients/families is a lack of clarity about who pays for integrated health care in the United States, and a lack of consensus about whether bending the health care cost curve is a fundamental goal of integrated care, and for whom. Clinicians caring for patients and families in integrated care settings would benefit from honing their "payment reform literacy skills” in order to advocate for integrated care. Method: This paper offers a primer on the current state of health care spending in the United States, an overview of public and private payers, and the challenges each faces in paying for integrated care. Discussion: Future journal articles in the FSH Policy and Management Department will describe key payment policy and management opportunities for integrated care payment reform. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved)