Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota Increases Access to Behavioral Health Services Across Commercial, Medicare and Medical Assistance Health Plans

EAGAN, Minn., Nov. 21, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — As a reflection of its ongoing commitment to meet and exceed member needs in the area of behavioral health, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota (Blue Cross) today announced a new collaboration with three separate management service organizations (MSOs)—Grow, Headway and Rula Health—to increase access to care.

Behavioral healthcare often is delivered in small practices that may not have the level of resources needed to administer health insurance benefits. As a result, some practices choose to operate on a self-pay model, where patients pay out-of-pocket for their care, rather than accepting health insurance benefits. As part of its commitment to expand access for members and ease for providers, Blue Cross is bringing these three new behavioral health MSOs to the Minnesota market to solve for the barriers that may prevent individual practitioners and small group practices from joining an insurance network.

Grow, Headway and Rula are online platforms that act as conveners, working to bring more therapists and psychiatrists that historically have not accepted insurance into Blue Cross’ network. The addition of these MSOs further enhances Blue Cross’ existing high-quality network and streamlines the process for members to find and schedule virtual or in-person appointments with practitioners that fit their unique needs while simultaneously handling administrative services such as contracting, credentialing, billing, checking benefits, scheduling, and more.

Providers supported by Grow, Headway and Rula will participate in what has long been the most expansive behavioral health network in Minnesota. Blue Cross and Blue Shield currently has agreements with more than 13,000 behavioral health providers throughout the state in all 87 counties. The agreements between Blue Cross and each MSO includes a value-based component, incentivizing the achievement of specific clinical outcomes, timely access, and follow-up care.

“Blue Cross’ new and novel relationships with Grow, Headway and Rula are a critical step in our continued commitment to behavioral health,” said Brett Hart, vice president of behavioral health and mental health parity at Blue Cross. “The resources offered by these platforms will be tremendously helpful for members residing in all 87 Minnesota counties, no matter their individual Blue Cross health plan, if and when they should need behavioral health services.”

The collaborations expand access to behavioral health services by:

• Collectively bringing hundreds of new providers not currently contracted with Blue Cross into its network
• Enabling easy online scheduling with quick access to appointments
• Adding more therapists with special clinical competencies and who speak additional languages
• Enhancing care navigation to help members find therapists who align with their personal preferences   

Services provided by the MSOs are available immediately to most Blue Cross members residing in Minnesota. Members may confirm eligibility for behavioral health services in their respective Blue Cross online portal or by contacting their Blue Cross representative.

More information about Blue Cross’ behavioral health plans and services can be found at www.bluecrossmn.com/bh. To learn more about Grow, visit www.growtherapy.com. To learn more about Headway, visit www.headway.co. To learn more about Rula Health, visit www.rula.com.

About Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota

For more than 90 years, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota (bluecrossmn.com) has supported the health, wellbeing and peace of mind of our members by striving to ensure equitable access to high quality care at an affordable price. Our more than 2.5 million members can be found in every Minnesota county, all 50 states and on four continents. Blue Cross^®and Blue Shield^®of Minnesota and Blue Plus^®are independent licensees of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association.

About Grow

Grow Therapy is a provider-centric mental health technology company improving access to high-quality mental healthcare. Grow Therapy provides therapists and prescribers with a suite of business tools and services, peer community, and pipeline of expertly matched patient referrals so that they can set up and grow thriving in-person and virtual private practices, within the communities they care about most. As a result, more Americans are accessing a wide variety of providers who not only best match their needs, but who take their insurance. Grow Therapy’s network includes more than 16,000 providers and works with major insurers including Humana, Aetna, Cigna, Florida Blue Cross Blue Shield, and UnitedHealthcare. Some of Grow Therapy’s key investors include Sequoia Capital, Goldman Sachs Alternatives, Transformation Capital, TCV, SignalFire, and Plus Capital. More information about Grow Therapy can be found at www.growtherapy.com.

About Headway

Headway is building the modern mental healthcare system where everyone can get the right care from the right therapist, covered by insurance. Today, we’re the largest mental health provider network in the country, with more than 40,000 providers across race, gender, ethnicity and specialty working with Headway to run their private practice. Patients can schedule care within 48 hours via one-click booking at headway.co, or can get care through a referral. The company operates in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, and has funding from a16z (Andreessen Horowitz), Accel, Forerunner Ventures, GV (formerly Google Ventures), Spark Capital, Thrive Capital, and Health Care Service Corporation.

About Rula Health

Rula is the best way for individuals, couples, and families to get in-network mental health care that delivers progress. With a diverse network of more than 10,000 licensed providers, nationwide next-day therapy availability, psychiatric services in 31 states, and 24/7 crisis support, Rula meets people wherever they are on their mental health journey. Patients match with a best-fit provider in minutes, confirm their out-of-pocket insurance costs, attend their telehealth sessions, and track improvement, all within a single easy-to-use platform. And when they need support, Rula’s team is there to provide live help from real humans. Rula Health accepts most major insurance networks, including Aetna/CVS, Anthem/Elevance, Cigna/Evernorth, Kaiser, United Healthcare/Optum, and many Blue Cross and/or Blue Shield plans, covering over 120M lives.

FOR MORE INFORMATION:                                                
Jordan Titus | 651.662.9282
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota
[email protected]

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