How To Make Behavioral Healthcare Better
In this episode of Quality Talks, Kate Hobbs, CEO of Author Health, delivers a compelling and insightful look at what works in behavioral healthcare—and how we can fix what’s broken. Drawing from deep experience in value-based care and behavioral health systems, Kate outlines a practical framework for improving outcomes and expanding access. She makes her most thorough and impassioned case for payment reform.
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About The Guest
Dr. Katherine Hobbs is a psychiatrist, former health insurance executive, and a national leader in quality and value-based payment for behavioral health. Recently recognized as a Top 50 in Digital Health Equity Advocates Honoree, she has been dedicated to improving mental health access and quality, particularly for underserved populations, for more than 20 years. Throughout her career, Katherine has focused on disseminating innovative outpatient care delivery models, measuring outcomes and quality, and transitioning to value-based reimbursement for behavioral health. She currently serves as the CEO of Author Health, a digital behavioral health company focused on delivering personalized, team-based services for Medicare Advantage and SNP members with serious mental illness (SMI), substance use disorders (SUD), and dementia. Prior to Author Health, Katherine was the CEO of Optum Behavioral Care and Chief of Behavioral Health at Blue Cross North Carolina.
Episode Description
This episode of Quality Matters features Kate Hobbs, CEO of the behavioral healthcare services company, Author Health. Aiming to help listeners navigate behavioral healthcare’s complexities, Kate outlines four essential dimensions of the field. She also explores how validated clinical tools and emerging technologies, such as wearables, can help measure what matters in behavioral health. She makes a powerful case for moving beyond fee-for-service toward value-based payment models that incentivize coordinated care and reach vulnerable patients.
Listen to learn about:
- Understanding Gaps in Access: Fragmented systems and funding silos make care hard to reach, especially for people who need care the most.
- What’s Exciting—and Worrisome—About Digital Technology: Digital innovation expands the reach of the behavioral health workforce and enables smarter, scalable care. But ongoing attention to accuracy and privacy is essential.
- The Need for Value-Based Payment: Fee-for-service “breaks” behavioral healthcare and fails vulnerable people most of all. Value-based care offers the path to quality, equity and sustainability.
You’ve seen progression in behavioral health with payers and states moving towards value-based payments that are holding providers accountable for quality.
That gets me excited because that’s going to help us move the needle and fund the level of resources we need to help people get better.
Dive Deeper
Timestamps
(03:16) Assessing In-Person vs. Virtual Behavioral Healthcare
(05:07) Wearables and Other Tech-Based Innovation
(06:08) Understanding and Measuring Access to Behavioral Healthcare
(10:56) Why Fee-For-Service Must Go
(15:20) Excitement for the Future