CMS Just Turned Depression Screening Into a Star Ratings Measure. Most Health Plans Aren’t Ready.
Among Medicare beneficiaries over 65, one in six lives with depression, according to CMS’s own coverage guidance. Most of them go untreated. Starting with the 2027 measurement year, this persistent gap in care will have a meaningful impact on Star Ratings. CMS finalized a new measure called DSF-E, Depression Screening and Follow-Up, in the Contract […]
A Referral Isn’t a Match. Why Behavioral Health Patients Keep Falling Through the Cracks.
Behavioral health access has expanded more in the last several years than in decades before it. Telehealth, integrated care models, and mental health parity laws have all pushed more entry points into the system. On paper, more patients should be reaching care than ever. The bottleneck has moved from whether a network includes behavioral health […]
Why Patients Who Need Behavioral Health Care Never Get Screened
A patient comes in for their annual physical and screen negative for depression and anxiety. Six months later, they lose a job, a parent gets sick, and symptoms creep that no one on their care team will see until the next scheduled visit. This is the first and most consequential breakdown in behavioral health referral […]
The 3 Causes of Behavioral Health Referral Leakage And What They’re Costing Your Health System
A patient sits down with their primary care provider, discloses symptoms of depression, and receives a referral to behavioral health. On paper, the system worked. In reality, placing a referral and connecting a patient to care are two very different things. In a typical health system serving 23% of adults 18 or older meet the […]
A New Depression Screening Mandate Is Coming — and Health Systems Need to Prepare Now
CMS just added a new behavioral health measure to the Medicare Advantage Star Ratings system. If you lead a health system with value-based care contracts tied to MA plans, the time to prepare for this requirement is now. The measure is called DSF-E — Depression Screening and Follow-Up for Adolescents and Adults. CMS finalized it […]
Unaddressed Behavioral Health Costs Health Systems Millions Annually in Fee-for-Service Revenue
Untreated behavioral health isn’t just a clinical problem, but also a revenue problem for health systems operating in fee-for-service arrangements. When patients have unmet behavioral health needs, they are measurably less likely to follow through on the medical treatment plans that generate billable care: they miss appointments, discontinue medications, and drop out of rehab and […]
Proven Suicide Prevention Strategies Exist. Implementation at Scale Is The Challenge
In 2024, nearly 49,000 Americans died by suicide. One of the most devastating aspects of this crisis is that four out of five of them had seen a healthcare provider in the year before their death. These deaths are preventable. Researchers have found evidence-based suicide prevention practices that reduce risk dramatically. What’s missing is implementation […]
New Research Explores How Organizations Make Remote Async Suicide Screening Work
For healthcare organizations, few clinical decisions carry more weight than how to screen for suicide risk. The question of whether organizations can safely screen patients outside the clinic walls, asynchronously, through a digital platform, has long demanded a careful answer. A new peer-reviewed study suggests the approach is both acceptable and achievable across diverse behavioral […]
How Bergen New Bridge Increased P4P Revenue, Driving 3x Returns Through Behavioral Health Integration
Behavioral health integration is becoming a defining challenge for health systems — and a growing driver of quality performance. Behavioral health needs rarely surface where health systems are best equipped to catch them. They emerge in primary care visits, chronic disease programs, and emergency departments, often invisible until they contribute to costly, avoidable utilization. On […]
NeuroFlow Named to Fierce Healthcare’s 2026 Fierce15
We’re proud to share that NeuroFlow has been named to Fierce Healthcare’s 2026 Fierce15 — an annual recognition of leading innovators in healthcare. Fierce Healthcare selects Fierce15 honorees from across the industry, spanning primary care, health technology, and new care models. Past winners have included companies like CityBlock Health, Cricket Health, Civica Rx, and more. […]