Employers, physicians must partner to meet nation's growing mental health needs

Long before the COVID-19 epidemic hit, the nation's behavioral healthcare system was in crisis, with mental health diagnoses on the rise, coupled with a shortage of providers. The pandemic took a system that was already overtaxed and stressed it even further. Cases of depression, anxiety and substance abuse have risen as a result and will only be further exacerbated with the delta variant surge. America's healthcare leaders must make behavioral health reform a top priority.

We all pay the price for a system that doesn't work, and employers pick up most of the tab—employee mental health conditions cost employers more than $100 billion and 217 million lost workdays each year. That is why cooperation between employers and healthcare stakeholders—especially primary-care providers—is mandatory to begin to solve the problem. When dialogue and collaboration happen, solutions can be found.