Administering Generous Mental Health Benefits: Opinions of Employers (HHS)

This report synthesizes the experiences of seven large employers that offer generous mental health benefits to their employees. Representatives of these employers shared their views and experiences in a one-day focus group meeting.

These employers use a variety of innovative practices to ensure that employees have access to mental health services and use them. The experiences of these employers may prove useful for other companies seeking to improve mental health coverage.

Participants' observations are summarized in five areas: rationale, contextual factors, benefit design, benefit management, and next steps for action. Key lessons learned from their experiences include the following:

• Investing in comprehensive mental health benefits is a sound business strategy. These employers believe that generous mental health benefits can decrease health care costs, increase productivity, reduce absenteeism, and create a comparative advantage in the labor market.
• While specific benefits may vary, approaches should provide early intervention, offer services across a continuum of care, and cover a wide range of mental health problems for employees and family members.
• Approximately 5 to 7 percent of total health care expenditures are needed in order to provide a comprehensive mental health benefit. These levels demonstrate employers' commitment to adequate funding of mental health services, which the employers believe will reduce general health care and other indirect costs.
• These companies promote an environment that reduces the stigma of mental illness and offer multiple points of entry to mental health care to facilitate access to care.
• All these employers take an active role in managing the mental health benefit. They use an extensive review process during procurement and monitor vendors throughout the contract period.
• To increase the number of employers offering comprehensive mental health benefits, meeting participants suggested that the Federal government support research to quantify the value of mental health benefits for employers.

Full report: http://mentalhealth.samhsa.gov/publications/allpubs/SMA01-3474/SMA01-3474ch1.asp