Changing views on mental and substance use disorders: An interview with Patrick Kennedy
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What are the critical impacts of COVID-19 on mental health?
McKinsey on Healthcare, a podcast series about visionaries, leaders, and problem solvers shaping the future of healthcare. Thank you for tuning in to our McKinsey on Healthcare podcast interview with Patrick Kennedy, former congressman and founder of the Kennedy Forum. Of note, the original podcast was recorded prior to the recent impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, yet we've been able to add questions from a brief phone interview on April 8th to the end of this podcast. The topic of behavioral health remains critically relevant. It is inevitable that the global pandemic, compounded by financial crisis, will have a material impact on the behavioral health of society. As such, it has never been more important to safeguard the behavioral health of our families and the resilience of our communities.
Through this conversation with Patrick Kennedy, we hope to highlight what measures stakeholders across the healthcare system can take to ensure needed support for people with mental and substance use disorders.
How can stakeholders in healthcare support mental health?
I'm honored to be speaking with Patrick Kennedy, former Congressman and the founder of the Kennedy Forum. So great to be talking with you. Today, we're going to be focusing on mental health.
Why is the focus on employers crucial for mental health?
We know that this is top of mind for companies trying to move the needle for those facing mental health challenges. It's a really big topic. In fact, it's one of the focus areas for our Center for Societal Benefit through Healthcare. Research shows that one in two individuals in the US will experience a mental or substance use disorder in their lifetime. The numbers involved are, of course, enormous, and so are the implications for society. We know this topic is of personal relevance to you, and especially through some of the work you've done at the Kennedy Forum, you've focused on how mental health needs to be part of that overall health in the workplace. I'd love to understand why the focus on employers.
Well, thank you, Erica. I thank McKinsey for putting a spotlight on this issue and using their platform to really take some of these subjects out to a much broader audience. We really do need to focus on employers because that's where the people are.
What role does mental health literacy play in society?
The work that I did on the mental health parity and Addiction Equity Act, which we passed in 2008. It's basically saying we don't want these illnesses discriminated against in the form of more limited access to care and higher thresholds for medical management determination. It's just wrong that we've denied people access to treatment for so long. And then we wonder why it's such a systemic issue in our society. And employers are really in the middle of it because it's not just the criminal justice system. It's not just the homeless populations. It's our newest generation of workers who are coming in, who are suffering, according to all indicators, with much higher risk. levels of depression and anxiety.
This is a phenomenon now that needs the leadership of employers because they dictate what the policies are in the workplace in terms of employer benefits, employee benefits, EAPs.
How can technology improve mental health support?
employee assistance programs, as well as how the payers structure what the kind of care is that will be considered primary care, which will mean that it's not going to impede an employee from gaining access to that treatment because of really high deductibles and co-pays and the like. It's all in aligning the financial incentives. And the most salient issue is we know good mental health has a huge ROI. That ROI can be defined in numerous ways, lower absentee rates, much higher productivity rates, hence lower presenteeism, much less comorbidities in terms of disability, but Ultimately, it's only going to happen if you structure the value proposition and the risk proposition by payers in a way that doesn't have to be defined in such a narrow window.
of time, the way most insurance companies evaluate ROI. And that's what really precludes us as a healthcare system from investing in what has all kinds of ancillary benefits to the employer community.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What are the critical impacts of COVID-19 on mental health?
0:07–1:04
2
How can stakeholders in healthcare support mental health?
1:04–1:15
3
Why is the focus on employers crucial for mental health?
1:15–2:10
4
What role does mental health literacy play in society?
2:10–3:12
5
How can technology improve mental health support?
3:12–4:49
6
What systemic changes are needed in mental health care?
4:49–6:05
7
How does stigma affect mental health treatment accessibility?
6:05–6:55
8
What lessons can we learn from past crises for future mental health responses?
6:55–32:04
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